Don't: a manual of mistakes and improprieties more or less prevalent in conduct and speech. By Censor. In parchment cover |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adjectives aloud attention better taste breeding carry your hands CENSOR chair church Comedy of Errors commonly Conduct and Speech CORNER OF ST Cultivate dinner Don't fail Don't say DON'T speak drawing-room dress elbows elderly enter a crowded expectorate fail false colouring FARRAN Successors fingers folks grammar GRIFFITH & FARRAN guest hair Harris WEST CORNER hence hiccough indiscriminate injunction keep kind knife and fork lady acquaintance laugh leave less prevalent lips Listen Manual of Mistakes Miss Mistakes and Improprieties mouth napkin neglect never Newbery & Harris omnibus over-civility person plate postal-card pretty prevalent in Conduct pronounce public vehicles put your knife rules saliva saucer say A nice seated servants slang smoke speak spit spoon ST PAUL'S CHURCHYARD Successors to Newbery talk Tasteful stationery things toilet toothpick trimmings unless view the manners vulgar walk wear black broadcloth whistling women word writing young lady
Popular passages
Page 25 - Don't in any case, offer to shake hands with a lady. The initiative must always come from her. By the same principle don't offer your hand to a person older than yourself, or to any one whose rank may be supposed to be higher than your own, until he has extended his. "If. . . you meet a lady whom you know slightly, you must wait till she bows to you," another bestselling manual informed its male readers.
Page 64 - Don't pick up letters, accounts, or anything of a private character that is lying on another's desk. Don't look over a person's shoulder when he is reading or writing. Don't twirl a chair or other object while talking or listening to any one. This trick is very annoying and very common. Don't beat a tattoo with your foot in company or anywhere, to the annoyance of others. Don't drum with your fingers on chair, table, or window-pane. Don't hum a tune. The instinct for making noises is a survival of...
Page 50 - ... indisposed. Don't say posted for well informed. Don't say balance for remainder. Don't use trade terms except for trade purposes. Don't say,
Page 35 - Nothing shows a better heart, or a nicer sense of true politeness, than kindly attention to those advanced in years. Don't in company open a book and begin reading to yourself. If you are tired of the company, withdraw ; if not, honor it with your attention. Don't, in entering or leaving a room with ladies, go before them. They should have precedence always. Don't keep looking at your watch, as if you were impatient for the time to pass. Don't wear out your welcome by too long a stay ; on the other...
Page 49 - ... for government. The omission of r in these and similar words — usually when it falls after a vowel — is very common. Don't pronounce route as if it were written rowt ; it should be like root. Don't, also, pronounce tour as if you were speaking of a tower. Let it be pronounced as if it were toor. Don't pronounce calm and palm as if they rhymed with ham. Give the a the broad sound, as in father.
Page 45 - DON'T speak ungrammatically. Study books of grammar, and the writings of the best authors. Don't pronounce incorrectly. Listen carefully to the conversation of cultivated people, and consult the dictionaries. Don't mangle your words, nor smother them, nor swallow them. Speak with a distinct enunciation. Don't talk in a high, shrill voice, and avoid nasal tones. Cultivate a chest-voice; learn to moderate your tones. Talk always in a low register, but not too low. Don't use slang. There is some slang...
Page 25 - Don't, however brief your call, wear overcoat or overshoes into the drawing room. If you are making a short call, carry your hat and cane in your hand, but never an umbrella. . . . Don't attempt to shake hands with everybody present. If host or hostess offers a hand, take it; a bow is sufficient for the rest. Don't in any case, offer to shake hands with a lady. The initiative must always come from her. By the same principle don't offer your hand to a person older than yourself, or to any one whose...
Page 57 - awfully nice," "awfully pretty," etc. ; and don't accumulate bad grammar upon bad taste by saying " awful nice." Use the word awful with a sense of its correct meaning. Don't say " loads of time " or " oceans of time." There is no meaning to these phrases. Say "ample time" or "time enough." Don't say " lots of things," meaning an " abundance of things." A lot of anything means a separate portion, a part allotted. Lot for quantity is an Americanism. Don't say that "the health of the President was...
Page 14 - It is better to make mistakes than to be obviously struggling not to make them. Don't drink too much wine. Don't thank host or hostess for your dinner. Express pleasure in the entertainment, when you depart — that is all. Don't come to breakfast in deshabille. A lady's morning toilet should be simple, but fresh and tasteful, and her hair not in curl-papers. A gentleman should wear his morning suit, and never his dressing-gown. There are men who sit at table in their shirt-sleeves. This is very...
Page 10 - ... the big berry by the stem, dip into powdered sugar, and eat it as we do the turnip radish. It is not proper to drink with a spoon in the cup; nor should one, by-theway, ever quite drain a cup or glass. "Don't, when you drink, elevate your glass as if you were going to stand it inverted on your nose. Bring the glass perpendicularly to the lips, and then lift it to a slight angle. Do this easily. Drink sparingly while eating. It is far better for the digestion not to drink tea or coffee until the...