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Her name is synonymous with good manners and etiquette -- an icon of all that is proper, impeccable, and decorous. She tirelessly advised anyone who sought her guidance on innumerable matters: personal to political; religious to romantic; soup to nuts. Her passion for good taste and superior comportment has continued to burn brightly even after her death: her legacy carried on by relatives and legions of fans who continue to craft and refine her rules of etiquette for the modern age.
We speak of Emily Post, the grande dame of gracious living, and a woman who, at least to us, sounds like an insufferable know-it-all.
A true lady never reveals her age and, in keeping with that, Emily Price was born into a life of privilege on October 3, 27, or 30, in 1872 or maybe 1873 (depending on the source). Clearly high-maintenance from youth, Emily attended finishing school in New York City and married society banker Edwin Main Post in 1892. The couple divorced in 1905, however, as a result of Edwin's significantly less-than-polite affair with a stripper. Emily needed money and turned to writing newspaper articles, light fiction, and humorous travel books until the watershed moment in 1922 when her book "Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home" was published. It was an instant bestseller, went through ten revisions and 89 printings, and firmly cemented her reputation as great big wisenheimer.
She devoted her life to making lazy, unmannered slobs feel like hell for behaving like imbecilic morons. Unsure about which utensils to use for cream-filled desserts, or how to secure a lost strand of spaghetti? Emily Post can set your ignorant self straight. Wonder what "festive attire" means? Ask Emily, you half-wit. Table manners need tuning? Emily's there, to remind you of your errors. Forget to wipe your sweat off the treadmill at the gym? Emily will school your ass.
To be honest, this broad sounds like a real drag -- of course, that's just our admittedly uncouth opinion, but at least we're not alone.
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Emily Post, Etiquette, Netiquette, Wedding Etiquette, Cell Phone Etiquette |
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Archived under: Authors, Biographies, Education, Emily Post, Etiquette, How-To, Society and Culture, Writers |
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Comments
I agree that on most items, she may have been a bit over the top but you can't deny that today it seems like no one has any manners.
Posted by: nectarmaiden at October 03, 2008 2:14 PM
I agree with nectarmaiden in that no one today in our society hardly has any good manners. And it's because no one is teaching good manners either at home or in our public schools. Good manners all boils down to simple good old fashioned common sense. My father always said to me that you can all the book smarts in the world but if you don't hae common sense, you're as dumb as a jack ass. Good manners does not only apply to what spoon you use when you eat soup but what you do when in your car driving on our roads,
Posted by: xslider.geo at October 05, 2008 11:31 AM
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