Pbenjay's Blog

This past Thursday would have been Emily Post‘s 139th birthday!  In honor of the occasion, the website, Mental Floss posted 10 tips and admonitions from that great arbiter of appropriate behavior.  These 10 items are interesting although probably more suitable to life in the mid-1960’s!

1. On Eating Corn on the Cob: “To attach the corn on the cob with as little ferocity as possible is perhaps the only direction to be given, and the only maxim to bear in mind when eating this pleasant-to-taste but not-very-manageable vegetable is to eat it as neatly as possible.  The real thing to avoid is too much buttering and greedy eating.
2. On Proper Attire for Dates: ” It’s always better to be under-than over-dressed.  Should your date be dressed for bowling and you are in a cocktail dress, excuse yourself for 10 minutes-no more-and change into something more casual.
3. On the Behavior of an Engaged Couple:  It’s unnecessary to state that an engaged man show no marked interest in other women.
4. On Greeting Guests Before A Wedding:  It is proper to smile and bow slightly to people you know, and even to speak briefly and quietly to a friend if they are sitting next to you.  However, if among strangers, you should just sit quietly till the procession starts.
5. On Refusing to Dance: Refusing to dance with one man and then immediately dancing with another is an open affront to the first one – excusable only if he was intoxicated or so offensive that the affront was justifiable.
6. On Dressing for an Audience with the Pope:  The rules of dress for visitors to the Pope are not so strict as they once were.  But even now for a private or special audience, men usually wear traditional evening dress with tails or sack coat and women long-sleeved black dresses with a veil over their hair.  No one may wear more than the most functional jewelry.
7. On Women Dining Together:  When several women dine together, the problem of the check is one that can concern to and confusion among the waiters, the nearby diners and the women themselves.  Women are so seldom able to separate the check into several parts with grace and speed that the cartoon of feminine heads clustered around the waiter’s tab, captioned, “Now Ethel, you had the tomato surprise.”, is all familiar to us.
8. On Refusing Wine: If you do wish wine, it is best because it is the least conspicuous to allow a little wine to be poured into your glass. Unless your host happens to be looking at your glass when the wine is poured, he will not know later on that your almost empty glass was never filled. On the other hand if he does notice, he could not feel that much wine was wasted.
9. On Eye Makeup:  Heavily made up eyes belong only on the stage or in the chorus line.
10. On the Similarities Between Being Witty and Opium Addiction:

“In great danger of making enemies is the man or woman of brilliant wit. Sharp wit tends to produce a feeling of mistrust even while it stimulates. Furthermore, the applause that follows every witty sally becomes in time breath to the nostrils, and perfectly well-intentioned people who mean to say nothing unkind in the flash of a second ‘see a point’ and in the next second score it with no more power to resist than a drug addict has to refuse a dose put into his hand.”