Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Gilded Age Domestic Titles

     

Well-bred persons simply say, the ‘nurse,’ the ‘cook,’ the ‘chamber-maid,’ etc... and what is still better, they designate their domestics by their Christian names.

Of Propriety of Conduct in Relation to Domestic Duties

It is only among the badly educated people of the small towns that they say, the ‘maid,’ the ‘boy,’ the ‘domestic,’ the ‘servant;’ and among the proud, ill-bred fashionables, who ape grandeur; the ‘lackey,’ the ‘valet,’ ‘my people;’ well-bred persons simply say, the ‘nurse,’ the ‘cook,’ the ‘chamber-maid,’ etc... and what is still better, they designate their domestics by their Christian names. — By Elisabeth Celnart, in The Gentleman and Lady's Book of Politeness and Propriety of Deportment, 1883 

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

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