For those who love love love etiquette
Anyone who loves romantic period dramas, loves the idea of a ball. It’s so fanciful, with all those lovely dresses, white tie and top hats. I covered the differences between a Ball and a Dance in an earlier post, but now let’s look at the minutia of going to a ball by planning one. Where…
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I’m going to say right now that all of this is going to be a massive oversimplification. I’m not looking to go into every detail of how breakfast became the modern meal we know and I’m only considering western food at this point, and the medieval times were an astounding number of centuries, so just…
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Good morning! Well, it might not be morning, but since we’re going to discuss that first meal of the day, I give you the appropriate salutation. Here we’re going to talk about Breakfast. I’m going to divide this into multiple parts because up until less than fifty years ago, a breakfast could mean the meal…
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When you think of a cocktail party, you probably think of the 1960’s and in many senses you would be right. The 1960’s were the heyday of the home cocktail party. While we are living though a second golden age of cocktails, we generally go out to a bar or restaurant to drink, (at least…
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When we talk about modern informal service, we’re generally talking about dinner served at home with guests where servants are not used. Within informal service, there is the American Style and the English Style. American style also has a unique sub-category; Ranch or Country Style. We’ll be talking here about service only, not all the…
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“It is always best to give something of your own production or discovery. If the recipient has any love for you, the value of the gift will be enhanced many fold by being the offspring of your effort and skill.” American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness by A.E. Davis, 1882 So, what was a Gent to…
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“A great deal of comfort and satisfaction of a good dinner depends upon the carving. Awkward carving is enough to spoil the appetite of a refined and sensitive person. No matter how well the meats may be cooked, if they are mutilated, torn, and hacked to pieces, or even cut awkwardly, one half of their relish is destroyed…
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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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