--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So Stapes conducted a dinner for just the…" description: "\"So Stapes conducted a dinner for just the two of us, then informed me of a dozen small but important mistakes I had made. Setting down a dirty utensil ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db6/patrick-rothfuss-145_crude_so-stapes-conducted-a-dinner-for-just-th_369765.jpg" --- # So Stapes conducted a dinner for just the two of us, then… ![“So Stapes conducted a dinner for just the two of us, then informed me of a dozen small but important mistakes I had made. Setting down a dirty utensil was considered crude, for example. That meant it was perfectly acceptable to lick one's knife clean. In fact, if you didn't want to dirty your…” quote by Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db6/patrick-rothfuss-145_crude_so-stapes-conducted-a-dinner-for-just-th_369765.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db6/patrick-rothfuss-145_crude_so-stapes-conducted-a-dinner-for-just-th_369765.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db6/patrick-rothfuss-145_crude_so-stapes-conducted-a-dinner-for-just-th_369765.jpg) > “So Stapes conducted a dinner for just the two of us, then informed me of a dozen small but important mistakes I had made. Setting down a dirty utensil was considered crude, for example. That meant it was perfectly acceptable to lick one's knife clean. In fact, if you didn't want to dirty your napkin it was the only seemly thing to do.” [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A host points out many minor etiquette errors, highlighting how social norms can be absurd yet enforced. **In simple terms:** Small social rules can seem pointless but are taken seriously. Key Takeaway Notice and question unnecessary customs. Themes etiquette social norms humor Mood wry observational Type literary satirical When to use this quote - dinner parties - first dates - professional networking - family gatherings Key Concepts cultural conditioning power dynamics Questions to Reflect On - Which etiquette rule feels most arbitrary to you? - Do you follow a rule out of habit or belief? A Different Perspective Some so may be genuinely harmful, not just silly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acceptable Lick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acceptable-lick-3375494/) [Conducted Dinner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conducted-dinner-3375491/) [Crude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crude/) [Dinner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dinner/) [Dirty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dirty/) [Dirty Napkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dirty-napkin-3375493/) [Dirty Utensil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dirty-utensil-3375492/) [Dozen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dozen/) [Example](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/example/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Food](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/food/) [Important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important/) [Knives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knives/) [Lick Knife](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lick-knife-3375495/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Mistake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mistake/) [Napkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/napkins/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Utensils](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utensils/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) ## Related quotes > [...If our houses, or clothes, our household furniture and utensils are not works of art, they are either wretched makeshifts, or, what is worse,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-morris/if-our-houses-or-clothes-our-household-furniture-and-utensils-are-not/) [William Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-morris/) > [But where only a free play of our presentational powers is to be sustained as in the case of pleasure gardens, room decoration, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/but-where-only-a-free-play-of-our-presentational-powers-is-to-be/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [“Pimpin' ain't easy, but it's necessary, especially if you wanna fully utilize the power of your kitchen. You can't have your spatulas and whisks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coolio/pimpin-ain-t-easy-but-it-s-necessary-especially-if-you-wanna-fully/) [Coolio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coolio/) > [But to proceed; as in order and place, so also in matter of her Creation, Woman far excells Man. things receive their value from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-cornelius-agrippa/but-to-proceed-as-in-order-and-place-so-also-in-matter-of-her/) [Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-cornelius-agrippa/) > [People use music as a utensil to better themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-simpson/people-use-music-as-a-utensil-to-better-themselves/) [Jessica Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-simpson/) > [My worship is of a very strange kind. In this, Ganga water is not required. No special utensils are necessary. Even flowers are redundant.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lahiri-mahasaya/my-worship-is-of-a-very-strange-kind-in-this-ganga-water-is-not/) [Lahiri Mahasaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lahiri-mahasaya/) > [What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-perec/what-we-need-to-question-is-bricks-concrete-glass-our-table-manners/) [Georges Perec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-perec/) > [PIANO, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/piano-n-a-parlor-utensil-for-subduing-the-impenitent-visitor-it-is/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [I want to win, I've still got the fire in the belly to win, it's just the old utensils are not working as good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-taylor/i-want-to-win-i-ve-still-got-the-fire-in-the-belly-to-win-it-s-just/) [Phil Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-taylor/) > [My advice to you, if you want to lose a bit of weight: don't eat anything that comes in a bucket. Buckets are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-connolly/my-advice-to-you-if-you-want-to-lose-a-bit-of-weight-don-t-eat/) [Billy Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-connolly/) > [The judgment is an utensil proper for all subjects, and will have an oar in everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-judgment-is-an-utensil-proper-for-all-subjects-and-will-have-an/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Objects of Appreciation: Every time you go to use a utensil or instrument, take pleasure and feel gratitude for the fact that you have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zelig-pliskin/objects-of-appreciation-every-time-you-go-to-use-a-utensil-or/) [Zelig Pliskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zelig-pliskin/) > [All my serving utensils are measured. It's not obvious, because they're really beautiful, but I have the option of tracking what I'm eating. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-vincent/all-my-serving-utensils-are-measured-it-s-not-obvious-because-they-re/) [Ali Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-vincent/) > [Sit and spin 'til you rot on the cosmic utensil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zappa/sit-and-spin-til-you-rot-on-the-cosmic-utensil/) [Frank Zappa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zappa/) > [When table utensils were invented in the 1100s, the Catholic Church condemned them as obscene and heretical, claiming, 'God gave us fingers with which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-morgan/when-table-utensils-were-invented-in-the-1100s-the-catholic-church/) [Robin Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-morgan/) ## More by Patrick Rothfuss > [Each woman is like an instrument, waiting to be learned, loved, and finely played, to have at last her own true music made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/each-woman-is-like-an-instrument-waiting-to-be-learned-loved-and/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. 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It is an act of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/there-is-something-deeply-satisfying-in-shaping-something-with-your/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [He had a bright, reckless tenor that was always wandering off, looking for notes in the wrong places.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/he-had-a-bright-reckless-tenor-that-was-always-wandering-off-looking/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [I smiled,"Deoch, my heart is made of stronger stuff than glass. When she strikes she'll find it strong as iron-bound brass, or gold and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/i-smiled-deoch-my-heart-is-made-of-stronger-stuff-than-glass-when-she/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [I have a blog where I keep in touch with my fans. I write about things that are important to me. 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How terrible to live surrounded by the stark, sharp, hollowness of things that simply were enough?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/but-how-awful-would-that-be-how-terrible-to-live-surrounded-by-the/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [ Here's the thing: Authors live or die by recommendations. \[That's one of the reason I review so many books on Goodreads.\] Giving books you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/here-s-the-thing-authors-live-or-die-by-recommendations-that-s-one-of/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [I was pretty poor for a long time. Not \*poor\* poor. But college student poor. I lived for most of my adult life living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/i-was-pretty-poor-for-a-long-time-not-poor-poor-but-college-student/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) [Explore all 895 Patrick Rothfuss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) ## More Crude quotes > [In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/in-some-sort-of-crude-sense-which-no-vulgarity-no-humor-no/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) > [The Twenty20 is itself a banal game, a crude game, but it works, so I hope Twenty20 commentary works.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-agnew/the-twenty20-is-itself-a-banal-game-a-crude-game-but-it-works-so-i/) [Jonathan Agnew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-agnew/) > [I've definitely become smuttier. When I first started out, I had these aspirations: 'I'm not going to do jokes about anything crude because I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-whitehall/i-ve-definitely-become-smuttier-when-i-first-started-out-i-had-these/) [Jack Whitehall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-whitehall/) > [for the obvious reason that nature - unadulterated and unimproved by man - is simply chaos. In fact, the camera proves that nature is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-weston/for-the-obvious-reason-that-nature-unadulterated-and-unimproved-by/) [Edward Weston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-weston/) > [To this day I over prepare. I draw storyboards for every scene - chicken scratches so crude that they amuse and horrify the crew.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-stoltz/to-this-day-i-over-prepare-i-draw-storyboards-for-every-scene-chicken/) [Eric Stoltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-stoltz/) > [Gold is not less but more rational than paper money. Money holds value so long as it is in limited supply; gold will always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-e-rees/gold-is-not-less-but-more-rational-than-paper-money-money-holds-value/) [William E. Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-e-rees/) > [There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. 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Not always neat. People in your circle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/maybe-your-life-resembles-a-bethlehem-stable-crude-in-some-spots/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) [Browse all 324 Crude quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crude/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So Stapes conducted a dinner for just the two of us, then informed me of a dozen small but important mistakes I had made. Setting down a dirty utensil was considered crude, for example. That meant it was perfectly acceptable to lick one's knife clean. 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