December 8, 2009-The Book of Good Manners

Every December I go through many of the old books I have collected. I have just finished reviewing The Book of Good Manners: A Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions, by Frederick H. Martens. It was published in 1923 by Social Culture Publications in New York. This book is very detailed about the proper manners for every occasion that includes christenings, travel, meals, dating, weddings, speech, conversations and funerals. Although written as a serious guide to proper manners, most of it is amusing these 86 years later. I would like to share part of the speech and conversation manners. This is a list of words and phrases not to be used in well-bred conversation.

Incorrect/ Correct:

Catch on/ To understand
Chin music/ Talk
Crow over/ Exult over
Dippy/Mentally unsound
Fork over/ Hand over
Josh/ Banter or chaff
Lit on/ Came across
Peach/ Charming young woman
Skin/ To get the better of by trickery
Tony/ Stylish

These are slang which will not pass" muster":

Big bug/ Person of prominence
Bird/ When a man is so called admiringly
Beaut/ Vulgar contraction for a beautiful woman
Chew the rag/ Wrangle or talk
Cough up/ Pay up
Cookoo/Intoxicated
Geezer/ Disrespectful phrase applied to elderly persons
Glad rags/ Best clothes
Gum the works/ Spoil anything through blunder
Hunky-dory/ Safe, all right
Let her rip/ Go ahead
Lick/ To beat
Mug/ The human face
Nifty; nobby/ Stylish, showy
Peel/ Disrobe
Pie eyed/ Intoxicated
Search me/ I don't know
Screw loose/ Mentally not quite responsible
Soppy/ Full of feeling
Yappy/ Foolish

I must admit I may have used a few of the phrases that don't pass "muster", such as hunky-dory, let her rip, screw loose and geezer. I remember once driving down the street with my mother and grandson. My mother saw a man standing very close to the street and said, "Look at that old bird". It was funny because my grandson began asking to see the bird.

I wish I had a book of modern day phrases especially some that come from text messages. Since I don't do much text messaging, I only know a few, like: y u sad, me 2, c u later, u ok, thx. There is definitely a huge generational gap between The Book of Good Manners and todays messages. I like the difference. In fact, I think it's really "nifty".