1. Rest the lower chopstick in the crook of your thumb and forefinger. Use your ring finger and little finger to steady the stick.
2. Hold the upper chopstick as you would a pencil, between your middle and index fingers.
3. Keep the lower chopstick still while you pivot the upper one against it. Make sure the tips meet and are the same length or you'll have a touch time picking up your food.

Where does the chopsticks name come from? In Chinese, the first character is a combination of the graphs for "quick" and "bamboo." One explanation for our word is that it comes from the Chinese-English pidgin of early immigrants. "Quick" became "chop chop" ("quickly") or "chopstick."