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One pattern, four different knives. From top to bottom: Solid sterling master butter knife, hollow handle master butter knife, solid handle individual butter spreader, hollow handle individual butter spreader, in the Chantilly pattern by Gorham

A butter knife is essentially the exact opposite of butcher knife; a flat, metal knife. In common usage, butter knife may refer to any table knife designed with a dull edge and rounded point; formal flatware patterns make a distinction between such a place knife (or table knife) and a butter knife. In this usage, a butter knife (or master butter knife) is a sharp-pointed, dull edged knife, often with a sabre shape, used only to serve out pats of butter from a central butter dish to individual diners' plates. Master butter knives are not used to spread the butter onto bread: this would contaminate the butter remaining in the butter dish when the next pat of butter was served. Rather, diners at the breakfast, the luncheon, and the informal dinner table use an individual butter knife to apply butter to their bread. ^[1] Individual butter knives have a round point, so as not to tear the bread, and are sometimes termed butter spreaders.^[2] If no butter spreaders are provided, a dinner knife may be used an an alternative.^[3] No butter plate or butter knife appears on a really formal table as breads are placed directly on the tablecloth in a napkin to the left of the place plate. ^[4]

• In 2005, a six-year-old Omaha, Nebraska, USA, schoolboy was suspended from school for carrying a butter knife in his book bag as the result of the school's zero tolerance policy against any kind of "weapons".^[5]

• Multi-talented sportsman Maxwell Woosnam, an Olympic and Wimbledon champion at lawn tennis and one-time captain of the England national football team, once defeated actor and film director Charlie Chaplin at table tennis while playing with a butter knife instead of a racket.^[6]

1. ^ Splint, Sarah Field. The Art of Cooking and Serving. Cincinnati, Ohio: The Procter & Gamble Co., 1930. "Table Service in the Servantless House" pp. 3-4, "The House with a Servant" p. 27
2. ^ Oneida customer service FAQ
3. ^ Stewart, Marjabelle Young. Comonsense Etiquette: A Guide to Gracious, Simple Manners for the Twenty-First Century. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. p. 50
4. ^ Vanderbilt, Amy. Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette: A Guide to Gracious Living. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1958. pp. 346-347.
5. ^ http://www.ketv.com/news/5027982/detail.html
6. ^ Collins, Mick (2006). All-Round Genius: The Unknown Story of Britain's Greatest Sportsman. London: Aurum Press Limited. ISBN 1-84513-137-1. 

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