Chopsticks
are not used to make noise, to draw attention, or to gesticulate.
Playing with chopsticks is considered bad manner and vulgar （just as
playing with cutlery in a western environment would be deemed crass）.
Chopsticks are not used to move bowls or plates. Chopsticks are not used to toy with one's food or with dishes in common.
Chopsticks
are not used to pierce food, save in rare instances. Exceptions include
tearing larger items apart such as vegetables and kimchi. In informal
use, small, difficult-to-pick-up items such as cherry tomatoes or
fishballs may be stabbed, but this use is frowned upon by
traditionalists.
Chopsticks can be rested horizontally on one's plate
or bowl to keep them off the table entirely. A chopstick rest can be
used to keep the points off the table.
Chopsticks should not be left
standing vertically in a bowl of rice or other food. Any stick-like
object pointed upward resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use
as offerings to deceased family members; certain funerary rites
designate offerings of food to the dead using standing chopsticks.
