Good Taste from Emily Post, Pt 1

Five things you probably didn’t know about Emily Post

Good Taste Today 

Part 1

Dear Mrs. Post: If the host carves and there is no maid at all, how should the vegetables and potatoes be served? Is it bad form to pass serving dishes from one to the other around the table.

Answer: If you help yourself there is, of course, the advantage of taking as much, or as little, as you want. However, there is also the question of hot serving dishes which, in fingers sensitive to heat, have been known to bo dropped! Even if the host serves the vegetables and potatoes as well as the roast, the plates can be filled according to each one's direction, such as: "May I have a rare slice of meat and just one potato, please?" This plan seems to me the simplest. But the only answer is to do what seems to you most practical. 

Dear Miss. Post: I went to a dinner some time ago where there was a guest of honor. After I had found my place at table I sat down, as I always have done. But much to my embarrassment the other ladies stood at their places and waited until the hostess asked them to be seated. I must admit that it took me several courses to regain my composure. The ancient advice of "When in Rome . . ." did not help in this situation, as I had never dined with this particular group of people. They must have thought me extremely rude, and perhaps I was, but I had never run into this display of politeness to the guest of honor. Will you write something about it? 

Answer: As you have said, many communities have customs of their own. Personally I have never heard of this procedure except in boarding schools. According to conventional usage every lady sits down as soon as she is told where to sit, or as soon as she finds her place card. The gentlemen stand at their places until the ladies are seated. In other words, what you did was (according to etiquette) entirely right. – By Emily Post in the San Bernardino Sun, 1939                

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