manners


Minding your


Are the manners of the general public deteriorating? Or have they just evolved with society? Henry Hitchings scrutinises the subject of English manners in his quirky, entertaining new book.


M 22


ind your manners my mum used to say - elbows off the table, no slurping your soup, no chewing with your


mouth open, don’t speak with your mouth full, knife and fork together when you’ve finished, and always say ‘please may I get down, excuse me everybody’.


And that was just table manners. There were plenty more to remember - ladies first, don’t interrupt, remember to say ‘please’ and ‘thankyou’, don’t make personal remarks, say ‘pardon me’ if


Hennessy SORRY!


The English And Their MANNERS. by


Henry Hitchings


John Murray 19.99


you burp, ‘excuse me’ when you cough, ‘sorry’ if you bump into someone or they bump into you, etc. Ah, those were the days. As Hitchings explains in his quirky, entertaining scrutiny of English manners, times change and many of us are concerned that manners have all but vanished. He cites a 2008 poll which concluded that bad manners are the biggest problem facing society and that people deplore increasingly bad-


by Val


mannered habits such as swearing and spitting. To youngsters the idea of good manners seems fuddy-duddy and old fogeyish. Yet the English code of conduct, which evolved from monks and religious teachings, goes back to the 1400s with the publication of a guide for boys at table - no slouching, scratching, shuffling, finger-wagging - followed by a guide for the man at table - no clawing his back as if searching for a flea, no nose-picking, no belching, no breathing on his superiors, no fiddling with his codpiece. A 1558 guide advised diners to refrain from cleaning finger- nails, falling asleep, reading, staring into the hankie after blowing the nose, sucking or picking the teeth, discussing wounds or diseases. As Hitchings makes clear, in the absence of good manners the rawness of human primal urges burst forth. Think football matches, eat-all- you-can buffets, Harrods sale.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4