December 11, 2007

This is just some old stuff on etiquette that I've come up with and wanted to share.
Most of it is funny, because it is almost 100 years old, but alot of it can still be relevent today. It's all up to you:

"Social life, is one of the fine arts. It demands good-will, tact, intelligence, knowledge, energy, patience, and for great success, a large measure of humour and imagination. But many of us lack some of these things, and some of us, many of them, and so the art of social life has been reduced to a code of etiquette".

Wow, that's heavy stuff being that this is from a long time ago....and they were afraid of people loosing all sense of correctness then! Wow, too bad they couldn't take a peak into 2007!. We continue:

"They all laugh at the etiquette books, because they treat trifles so seriously, and a comparison of such manuals for, say, a hundred and fifty years past, would prove how absurdly artificial have been many of the laws that ruled society. However, even some of the most ridiculous prove on investigation to have been founded upon reason and in the necessities of life. There is nothing in social life more charming than simple sincerity of manners, naturalness, spontaneousness, and the charm of cordial ease".

Ok, they actually make sense...and what holds true in the early 1900s, really still holds true today in the early 2000s.

That's it for today, but we will leave you with one pop quiz question:

"What Are Manners?"

Answer: The polite speech and behaviour of one group of civilized mortals to another. Founded first, perhaps upon the fear of the weak for the strong, of the humble for the high, but later based upon that consideration which said each member of the community owes each other."

Oh...one more before we go....

"What are the first requisites of good manner?"

Answer: Kind-heartedness, self-respect, consideration, a sense of fair play, and some powers of observation.

Well, I guess they never had to try and get Hanna Montana Tickets for a teenager!

Till tomorrow.........

Speaking of manners, why not send a holiday basket to someone who won't be home for the holidays? See our wide selection of gift baskets at www.shopthebabystore.com. Look for our new store www.shopthegiftbasketstore.com opening soon.

And don't forget to bring a small hostess gift to all those holiday parties coming up!

G'night!

Shop The Gift Basket Store

Welcome to our blog, and soon, our second online store, Shop The Gift Basket Store, www.shopthegiftbasketstore.com. We will feature many different gift baskets for all occasions: corporate, real estate, get well, Happy Birthday, new baby, spa, just for fun, gourmet, candy baskets, you name it, and we'll have it.

We will also be featuring an extensive line of other gifts from new baby straight through to gourmet foods delivered right to your door.

There are blogs and posts all over the internet. Most of the blogs affiliated with stores offer timely advice on new products, government recalls, etc., etc., I thought it would be fun to offer some lessons in etiquette.

Now, many of you may be asking why we would even bother spending any time on the issue, but I think it may be fun to reveal some insite into etiquette as it was about one hundred years ago. We can then compare ourselves (well, mankind) from the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century.

So, hold on to your hats....it's going to be a bumpy ride! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Let's first start by trying to figure out how manners came to be in the first place:

"Probably, the first manners were the result of fear; fear that if one did not sufficiently kowtow to the Stong Man of the occasion, very disagreeable consequences were likely to ensue. And this particular brand, while scarcely of the highest quality, is not without its advantages when it controls the behavior of insubordinate children or adults of a lower order of intelligence. Better, one thinks, is politeness that arises from a wholesome awe than no politeness at all.

But the best manners in the world come from kind-heartedness and a sense of justice, both of which induce consideration for others. The first crude indications of such consideration might be shown by not snatching food from a weaker brother; more sophisticatedly, by not lolling in an easy chair while the aged were standing; nor telling a disagreeable story at the expense of a shy friend; nor flaunting fine clothes in the face of the shabbily dressed. It is this which teaches us to answer an invitation quickly that our hostess may know whether or not she is to count upon our coming; and keeps us from breaking our engagement at the last moment - unless for absolutely sufficient reasons, because it would be upsetting to her arrangements.

There could be no more dignified or serious arrangement of the unkindess of discourtesy; nor could any exhortation to gentleness be more gently made. The fine behaviour which rises from fundamental fineness of soul is insisted upon and makes us feel that to be rude is, perhaps the most unforgivable of faults because it has so little excuse to it. In civilized life, people are not forced to impoliteness even when they are angry, and they need never be ungrateful when others try to please them nor careless as to how much trouble they give."

Ok, so that's our first introduction into etiquette from a gazillion years ago......it will be less boring in the future....I promise.

We will cover such topics as : "If a fork falls near enough to a man, he may quite properly pick it up, if he wishes and can do so be merely leaning down."

Ok, that's good enough. How about finger bowls:

"As for the incident of the finger-dipping, if the bowl is big enough, which it will not be, and a man can dip all ten fingers at once, he may do so and suffer no comment".

Ok, well, if a man were to dip his fingers in a bowl while I was trying to eat, well, we won't even go there.

I think we will have fun exploring the rules of etiquette from a time long before even our grandparents were around, yet it really wasn't that long ago if you take it into total perspective.

Oh, and lesson number for today based on lessons from long ago: If one is invited as a guest to someone's house a small token and/or gift is and will always be, in good taste. A gift basket is the perfect solultion!

Till we talk again! Don't just send a gift, send a memory!