For those who love love love etiquette
Here are a few rules for attending a formal dance. I’ve written most everything in the traditional “man asks a woman to dance” because it was clearer, but it can be transposed for any couple of any stripe. The man is merely the one who asks the other to dance, the girl the one who…
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We’re back with another reading from The Modern Art of Making Love by James S. Wilson, (1900). Here we learn how to flirt with the object of our affection using a handkerchief. Drawing across the lips – Desirous of an acquaintance. Drawing across the eyes – I am sorry. Taking it by the center –…
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Balls and Dances are very different things. In the past, when sending out invitations to a ball, you sent them to friends and family, no matter what their age. Balls are social events with dancing, but not everyone is expected to dance and the hosts are expected to provide a meal. Dances as we know them are…
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“In the home where guests are frequently entertained and where the hostess holds many formal social functions, servants are essential. Every family that can afford to do so, should have one, or two, or more servants according to social requirements an the appointments of the house. They should be well instructed in their duties and they should…
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I was asked recently, “Why do a blog about old etiquette? No one’s going to change the way they act.” That’s probably true and that’s ok. I love the minutia of historical etiquette, but it is rather like looking at a wonderful piece of very stuffy old art. While it might delight me in a museum,…
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When we think of etiquette that doesn’t really apply to our daily lives, horseback etiquette is at the forefront. While some of us still enjoy time with these beautiful animals, we generally do not rely on them for transportation or our livelihoods. Not so in the Regency and Victorian eras. For this first foray into…
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The Victorian’s really hated any form of eating that used the fingers. Everything in a Victorian’s existence was meant to separate the humans from animals. Bodily functions were never spoken of. Animal drives, such as eating or mating were to be avoided. This led to an unending set of rules when one sat down for…
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“Secret languages” are one of the most wonderful sources of unintended humor when one reads Victorian etiquette books. Living in repressive times, lads and ladies on the make were forced to use all sorts of hidden methods to woo and win love. You’ve probably have heard of the language of flowers. I’ll give that a glance at…
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File under things we never see any more; tiny little plates, usually about 3 inches in Diameter set in the upper left corner of the place setting. Prior to the 1800’s with the exception of Royal tables, butter was likely served from a communal dish, either in small scoops or in a great mound. This…
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For years my mother wore a large brimmed sun hat out in the garden affixed with a hat pin. She had dozens of hats made of every conceivable type of material and she had many hatpins to match. In my twenties I began wearing hats often, so my mother gave me a couple hatpins. That began a very…
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