The carving-of-the-meat thing reminds me of a scene from the Horatio Hornblower series when Horatio finds out he is invited to an upscale dinner. If I remember correctly, he was told he'd probably be asked to carve the meat. I always wondered why he was so nervous and made such a big deal about how he should carve whatever the meat might be. I always understood that he would not want to embarass himself but I never knew until now to what extent the embarassment would be which would account for his going so about it. Thanks.