Gilded Age Fad of Young Men

There is a whole science to selecting rings for different fingers according to many online sources – Image source, Pinterest

A Young Man's Rings

Have you noticed the hands of the young man who is only swagger, not quite well-bred? He wears rings and rings – not one, or two, or even three, but six and seven, and he wears them just as his women friends do, clear up to the knuckle of the third and fourth fingers of both hands. 

Some of them are of gold and some of silver or platinum, and occasionally one sees a thin, dark band that means iron, and they are set with all kinds of stones, sometimes a diamond, sometimes a turquoise, perhaps an emerald, or a ruby, or a sapphire. 

And the young man who wears all these finger adornments always rides in the elevated cars without his gloves, and the young lady clerk sits opposite him and counts, and wonders and admires.-N. Y. Evening Sun, 1890

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

Bad Manners Show Poor Breeding

      

Letty is wrecking her chance to get into the smart crowd she admires with all of her etiquette blunders!

Bad Manners at Table Betray Poor Breeding

Here's Letty—wrecking her chance to get into the smart crowd she admires. Etiquette blunders — such as spreading jam over a whole slice of bread— betray her lack of breeding. She doesn’t know that well-bred people break off, butter and spread with jam, one morsel at a time. 

She smothers her fish in tartar sauce. The deft way is to dab a little sauce with the fork on each bite of fish. She spoons up all her bouillon, not knowing it’s proper to drink it straight from the cup, after sipping with a spoon to see if it’s cool enough. Avoid these telltale blunders. — Santa Ana Journal, 1936

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

Etiquette, Food, Diplomacy and Good Breeding

Culinary diplomacy, also known as “gastro-diplomacy,” is a type of cultural diplomacy, which itself is a subset of public diplomacy. Its basic premise is that “the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach.” Being well-bred, aka “well-mannered,” also helps.

“The proverb, ‘The beginning is half the battle,’ applies in a multitude of ways. In the first instant of a greeting between two people, the ground upon which they meet should be indicated. Cordiality, reserve, distrust, confidence, caution, condescension, deference—whatever the real or the assumed attitude may be, should be shown unmistakably when eyes meet and heads bend in the ceremony of greeting. 

“To put into this initial manner the essence of the manner which one chooses to maintain throughout is one of the fine touches of diplomacy. People fail to do this when their effusively gracious condescension subsequently develops into snobbishness, or when an austere stiffness of demeanor belies the friendliness which they really intend to manifest. The latter fault is often due to diffidence or awkward self-consciousness; the former is usually traceable to the caprice of an undisciplined nature, and is a significant mark of ill-breeding.” — Agnes H. Morton's, “Etiquette."

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