Manners, please

This was a gift from my Grandmother for my seventeenth birthday:

My Grandmother was a petite woman with a big personality who deeply loved her family more than anything and we always knew it.  I have great memories of Marjorie Elizabeth Schultz, whose middle name is also mine. 

She had opinions about everything, which I always admired.  And she had a special way of delivering her advice that made clear what she wanted you to know/do, but still with a kindness or humor so you didn't feel scolded. So when I got the Miss Manners book I received it with these same sentiments. Grandma was sharing her knowledge (and expectations) with her granddaughter and I understood how this gift was to be received. And to be clear: my manners and etiquette "training" began long before I turned seventeen.

Manner are behaviors we all know, or should know.  (Sorry, do you feel scolded? Tone can be hard to convey in writing. <wink>)  We are taught these acceptable ways to interact with others from early ages and they are important pillars of a civilized society. Yes I just wrote that. Please keep reading.

It's also very obvious when manners have been ignored, right? It kind of makes you cringe when you witness a bad/no manners situation.

Let's all work to encourage good manners with those around us, shall we? But let's do it in a kind, non-scolding sort of way. Grandma Marge would approve.

Did you know??

When you introduce someone, you should say their name first and their relationship to you second.  Wrong: "This is my sister Jill."  Right: "This is Jill, my sister."

Asparagus is correctly eaten with one's fingers.

 

 

Get your own copy of Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. It has been "freshly updated" so you'll likely get some additional advice in your newer edition.

Etiquette versus Manners. Here's a primer.

A short history of modern manners, according to a British guy.
Manners have an image problem. This stems in part from a tendency to conflate them with the people who profess to be their most passionate defenders. Even more damagingly, manners are confused with the cramped codes of etiquette, with silly and arbitrary rules about fish knives and the precise length of time one should mourn the passing of a second cousin.