And if you do, do you use a spoon to assist with the twirls?
What are your thoughts on cutting spaghetti noodles? Pro/Con/Ambivalent?
#1: I twirl but don’t use a spoon. A very small part of me cringes at the thought of cutting spaghetti noodles, but the bulk of me thinks it makes total sense. This is somewhere around the level of split infinitives for me, maybe some other grammar thing that I don’t do in formal writing myself but don’t mind when others do it. (I’m pretty sure I occasionally split infinitives in formal writing.)
#2: Yes twirl, no on the spoon, I think cutting it is wrong but my dad does it (and I continually give him [excrement] for it)
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
July 25, 2018 at 4:37 am
Twirl, no spoon. Is it possible to eat spaghetti without twirling? If it’s dried spaghetti I’m cooking, I break it in half before dumping in water. I never cut spaghetti while eating.
July 25, 2018 at 6:23 am
Exactly above. Though I do cut spaghetti in bitty pieces for little kids. Obviously. And mostly I don’t eat spaghetti because I’m 90% GF and don’t like substitutes.
July 25, 2018 at 7:34 am
I grew up with cut spaghetti – probably my parents thought it was easier/safer for the kids – so I thought it was normal for a long time. Still feels “right” to have shorter noodles so I often just snap the noodles in two before cooking.
In a restaurant or something I use a spoon to twirl. I know manners I just don’t bother with some of them in the privacy of my own home.
July 25, 2018 at 9:17 am
I twirl, no spoon. Cutting it is an abomination.
Also, my toddler seems perplexed by my twirled noodle and will take it off the fork and eat it with her fingers instead, so clearly twirling is learned behavior and unnatural. But so are forks.
July 25, 2018 at 9:48 am
Twirl no spoon. I also do not peel oranges, bananas or grapes with knife and fork.
You made me smile with this today! Many thanks!!!
July 25, 2018 at 10:00 am
Just got back from eating tons of pasta in Italy. They don’t give you spoons there (or at least in any of the restaurants I went to) but everyone I saw was twirling spaghetti and bucatini. No one was cutting.
July 25, 2018 at 10:07 am
An unpopular opinion: I totally cut my spaghetti. I like a certain sauce-to-noodle ratio, and twirling tends to make the sauce come off and throw off the ratio.
But the real answer is that I much prefer smaller noodles such as rotini or farfalle, which solves all problems.
July 25, 2018 at 10:24 am
Obviously pasta shape heavily influences sauce: pasta. That’s why there are so many shapes! There is not One Correct Shape for all sauces.
There are many guides out there (https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/54492/when-pasta-met-sauce/), and also Buzzfeed guides to what pasta shape are you? (https://www.buzzfeed.com/adamellis/what-kind-of-pasta-are-you?utm_term=.drEqoqlw7#.ueMNvNd9p), although it says I’m alphabet noodles so I feel betrayed.
July 25, 2018 at 11:11 am
Twirl, no spoon. Finally I have found a habit for which I seem to be in the majority! :-)
July 25, 2018 at 11:25 am
Twirl, no spoon, no cutting. Though I did regret not cutting those zucchini noodles that one time…
July 25, 2018 at 11:39 am
Twirl, no spoon but I’m not opposed to a spoon. I just don’t think of it, usually.
I don’t like to cut noodles for JB, believing that ze will just figure it out, but PiC disagrees and prefers to cut them. I think that makes them messier because now they’re short floppy but not that floppy (al dente!) noodles.
July 25, 2018 at 6:16 pm
Twirl it on the plate, as they do in Italy. Easy-peasy.
July 25, 2018 at 7:07 pm
Cutter at home, twirler, no spoon, in restaurants where I feel self-conscious about it. But so much prefer my noodles shorter!
July 27, 2018 at 2:10 pm
I also cut at home. I’m the worst–I cut up all my spaghetti, as if I were a toddler. Then it all gets mixed perfectly. Then I put the parmesan cheese on top, so that every bit has some, but it’s right on top where I can easily taste it. At restaurants, I almost never order spaghetti because I generally like mine better. When I do, I ask my eating companions before performing any atrocities. I don’t mind other people twirling, of course. I like to watch them in case they can convince me to change.
July 26, 2018 at 5:09 am
https://5calls.org/issue/protect-mueller-russia-investigation with a note to your house member to also tell their tea party colleagues.
July 26, 2018 at 10:21 am
I wonder if he twirls his spaghetti?
July 26, 2018 at 9:13 am
Yes twirl and yes with the spoon. Cut them for little kids.
July 26, 2018 at 8:53 pm
Haha, tbh I just hook a bunch into a fork, lift and then kinda slurp most of the time. I sometimes twirl (no spoon), usually if other people ar around..