DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have just acquired six lovely double-handled creamed soup cups and am wondering how to eat from them politely. Are the handles to be used? Why the difference between the bowl and the cup?
GENTLE READER: Yes, yes! Go ahead and pick up the cup by both handles and pour soup all over yourself.
But only at lunchtime. Soup cups work the day shift. At dinner, soup should be served in bowls or the more formal rimmed soup plates.
Strictly speaking, what you have are bouillon cups, although Miss Manners acknowledges that they have also long been pressed into service for cream soup.