1940 Emily Post Etiquette Book

[Paisley]

I found this at the public library last night and bought it for $1.50. Inside, there was also a little booklet on wedding etiquette by Amy Vanderbilt. A few excerpts (which are as I remember them, not verbatim):

"A wedding gown should have long sleeves. If it has short sleeves, the bride should wear long gloves with the ring finger ripped."

"Shouting 'Hullow' in public is vulgar. A clever girl who became separated from her friends at a baseball game held her hat in the air to help them find her."

"Conversation should stay in the drawing room and out of the bedroom and bathroom. Don't talk about your innermost feelings in public. To do so it to tear down the walls of your house."

 

[Sefton]

"Conversation should stay in the drawing room and out of the bedroom and bathroom. Don't talk about your innermost feelings in public. To do so it to tear down the walls of your house."

Sadly it looks likehil Donahue/Oprah/Montell : 1. Emily Post: 0

 

[scotrace]

I've been puzzing on that one. You aren't supposed to talk in the bedroom?

 

[HadleyH]

I also want to know why not

What's wrong with talking in the bedroom?
People have been talking in the bedroom since the dawn of time.
I always talk in the bedroom.

 

[Martinis at 8]

We talk dirty to each other in the bedroom

 

[BegintheBeguine]

"Conversation should stay in the drawing room and out of the bedroom and bathroom."

Topics of conversation, people. Or did y'all already know this and are making jokes which as per usual I don't get?

 

[Sefton]

Topics of conversation, people. Or did y'all already know this and are making jokes which as per usual I don't get?

No, I think that's correct;don't speak publicly of private matters(bedroom,bathroom,hospital,etc.) I just ordered a 1939 copy of her book "101 Etiquette mistakes and how to avoid them",perhaps this is the same book that Paisley wrote of?

 

[Paisley]

Topics of conversation, people. Or did y'all already know this and are making jokes which as per usual I don't get?

Correct. I'm pretty sure she meant that in public or among acquaintances, don't talk about your love life or your more personal health problems.

 

[Paisley]

No, I think that's correct;don't speak publicly of private matters(bedroom,bathroom,hospital,etc.) I just ordered a 1939 copy of her book "101 Etiquette mistakes and how to avoid them",perhaps this is the same book that Paisley wrote of?

It's a different book, but it sounds like an interesting read. The one I bought is simply called Etiquette.

 

[Tomasso]

I have Amy Vanderbilt's New Complete Book Of Etiquette---The Guide to Gracious Living ---1962

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Topics of conversation, people. Or did y'all already know this and are making jokes which as per usual I don't get?

I knew it meant not to talk of delicate matters in someone's living room. So when you both say 'correct' it means the 3 Loungers knew but were making bedroom-related jokes? Is there anything in there about what to do when I don't realize people are making jokes? Or when people are serious and it's about something so ridiculous I think they're joking and I put my foot in it? There is a 60s etiquette book in the break room at work so maybe I will look it up next time I'm there. Incidentally, about the only topics of conversation my in-laws ever have involve bathroom jokes, results of paternity tests , medical problems, and calling dinner rolls buns and thinking it hilarious. I don't have much appetite around them whenever we get together for a meal.

 

[Paisley]

I've read (somewhere else) that silence is the best repartee.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Yes, I told my husband that the thing my in-laws should like best about me is that I rarely speak when they are around.

 

[Paisley]

Actually, I enjoy tasteless humor now and then, but not in mixed company and not at dinner. There's a time and a place for everything.

 

[patrick1987]

lol You're assuming there's humor involved. They say a word like 'fart' and that's the joke. That clan makes Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokel look like Alistair Cook. The dinner I had with them at BegintheBeguine's house was the most uncomfortable and unpleasant I've ever experienced. And they behaved that way in her house!

 

[Paisley]

Note to self: one more reason to stay single.

***​

Doesn't that make it easy to buy gifts, though? Like whoopee cushions and such?

 

[Starius]

I just love old books like that, I'm amassing a nice little collection myself.

In particular relation to this, I have the Book of Etiquette Vol. I and Vol. II by Lillian Eichler, both published in 1921.

If anyone would be interested in reading passages out of these books, let me know. I'd be happy to transcribe some of them.

Here are the chapter listings to give you an idea:

Vol. I
Part 1
1. Introduction to Etiquette
2. Etiquette's Reward
3. Engagements
4. Wedding Invitations and Announcements
5. Weddings
6. The Bride's Outfit
7. Funerals
8. Christenings

Part 2
1. Introductions
2. Letters of Introduction
3. Calls and Calling Customs
4. Visiting Cards - And Others
5. Invitations
6. Correspondence
7. Parents and Children

Vol. 2
Part 3
1. Servants
2. Dinners
3. Luncheons
4. Teas and Other Entertainments
5. When the Bachelor Entertains
6. Musicals and Private Theatricals
7. Dancing
8. Games and Sports

Part 4
1. Speech
2. Dress
3. The Business Woman
4. On the Street
5. At the Theater and the Opera
6. Hotel Etiquette
7. Travel Etiquette
8. Tipping
9. Etiquette Abroad

Each chapter has many sub sections as well. A wealth of information! I've had them for quite awhile, I'm rather ashamed I haven't read much of them yet.... being the heathen country hobo that I am...

 

[BegintheBeguine]

I wish I knew then what I know now

Note to self: one more reason to stay single.

***​

Doesn't that make it easy to buy gifts, though? Like whoopee cushions and such?

lol lol Always look on the bright side, eh, what? lol
Starius, this chapter looks interesting: When the Bachelor Entertains

 

[Starius]

Starius, this chapter looks interesting: When the Bachelor Entertains

I just realized I could risk hijacking this thread and I don't want to do that so I will post my reply for this in it's own thread.

 

[Steph]

lol You're assuming there's humor involved. They say a word like 'fart' and that's the joke. That clan makes Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokel look like Alistair Cook. The dinner I had with them at BegintheBeguine's house was the most uncomfortable and unpleasant I've ever experienced. And they behaved that way in her house!

Most folk'll never lose a toe,
But then again, some folk'll,
Like Cletus, the Slack-Jawed Yokel