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Sorry!: The English and Their Manners
Most of us know a bit about what passes for good manners - holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table. We certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviours come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much to us? In examining our manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates our notions of Englishness.
Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of our country's customs and courtesies. Putting under the microscope some of our most astute observers of humanity, including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of the English character. Hitchings' blend of history, anthropology and personal journey helps us understand our bizarre and contested cultural baggage - and ourselves.
Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of our country's customs and courtesies. Putting under the microscope some of our most astute observers of humanity, including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of the English character. Hitchings' blend of history, anthropology and personal journey helps us understand our bizarre and contested cultural baggage - and ourselves.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
37 people are currently reading
649 people want to read
About the author
Henry Hitchings
16 books38 followersHenry Hitchings is the author of The Language Wars, The Secret Life of Words, Who’s Afraid of Jane Austen?, and Defining the World. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is the theater critic for the London Evening Standard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
March 19, 2017
An interesting but over detailed look at the history of the manners of the British. The author doesn't seem to have any particular method of presenting the information....in other words, it rambles. That was rather off-putting and I often found myself skimming through chapters which is never a good sign. An OK read but not exactly what I expected.
July 30, 2014
Today’s Nonfiction post is on Sorry! The English and Their Manners by Henry Hitchings. It is 392 pages long including notes, bibliography, and index. It is published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. The cover is a table set with different kinds of silver and dishware. There is some strong language, talk of sex, and no violence in this book. The intended reader is someone who is interested in the way that manners have developed over the centuries. The tone is academic but readable. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the dust jacket- Most of us know a bit about what passes for good manners- holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table- and we certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviors come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much? In examining his countrymen’s manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates what it means to be English.
Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating, and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas, and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of England’s customs and courtesies. Putting some of the most astute observers of humanity- including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys- under the microscope, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of Englishness. Hitchings’s blend of history, anthropology, and personal journey helps us understand the bizarre and contested cultural baggage that that is bundled with our understanding of what it means to have good manners.
Review- This is an amusing and interesting about the history and current state of manners. Hitchings starts the reader in modern day with some interactions of two tennis stars and how they behaved. Then he moves us from the beginning of written word with how manners started and delivers us back to modern day. Hitchings is engaged and engaging with this subject. This could have been a very boring book but it is not. It is funny, interesting, and a little sad with all the information about how manners and the people who use them have evolved over the course of history. Instead of dry and boring quotes Hitchings gives real stories from over the course of time. Famous people have had a lot to say about how young people, poor people, and people in general act. I had to read some parts of this book to my spouse to he could laugh too. I highly recommend this book.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
From the dust jacket- Most of us know a bit about what passes for good manners- holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table- and we certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviors come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much? In examining his countrymen’s manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates what it means to be English.
Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating, and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas, and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of England’s customs and courtesies. Putting some of the most astute observers of humanity- including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys- under the microscope, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of Englishness. Hitchings’s blend of history, anthropology, and personal journey helps us understand the bizarre and contested cultural baggage that that is bundled with our understanding of what it means to have good manners.
Review- This is an amusing and interesting about the history and current state of manners. Hitchings starts the reader in modern day with some interactions of two tennis stars and how they behaved. Then he moves us from the beginning of written word with how manners started and delivers us back to modern day. Hitchings is engaged and engaging with this subject. This could have been a very boring book but it is not. It is funny, interesting, and a little sad with all the information about how manners and the people who use them have evolved over the course of history. Instead of dry and boring quotes Hitchings gives real stories from over the course of time. Famous people have had a lot to say about how young people, poor people, and people in general act. I had to read some parts of this book to my spouse to he could laugh too. I highly recommend this book.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
February 7, 2015
For some reason this book just didn't quite do it for me. It is an interdisciplinary look at English manners (including all my favorite social science "-ologies" - anthropology, sociology) containing many interesting bits. But maybe it was the organization (or lack thereof) and jumbling up of the topics that made it more challenging than it should have been to read. I really wanted more introduction or context or something. For example, I'm not really sure why there were several chapters on American manners. Was it filler? Was it the fear that American manners will take over the world? Something else? I don't know because the author never explained!
I'm still giving it three stars because it was by no means the worst book on the English that I've ever read. I got a sufficient amount of information and entertainment out of it. But it had so much potential to be so much better!
I'm still giving it three stars because it was by no means the worst book on the English that I've ever read. I got a sufficient amount of information and entertainment out of it. But it had so much potential to be so much better!
January 4, 2014
Hmm. I loved the review in the New York Times Book Review. The book was a serious survey of manners from medieval times to the present. For some reason I wasn't expecting it; mostly, because of the title. Being new to London, one day I had a sudden realization that everyone I met or more likely bumped into was "sorry." In fact it seemed as if the whole city was "sorry." I also noticed that they looked at me as if I were crazy when I returned an "excuse me" or "pardon". Based on the title, I thought the book would really help me get to the heart of all of this sorry business. It did and it didn't. But I did read the whole book. I actually rather grew to like Henry (or should I say Mr. Hitchings) and wish he had included more about himself in the book.
February 24, 2015
I read around 150-200 pages of this book, skipping around a bit. I thought it was going to be an interesting look into why there are certain types of manners and how they came about. Instead, it was mostly anecdotes and random historical aspects like what manners consisted of back in the day. It was really boring and I thought, very poorly written. I didn't finish it.
July 30, 2013
Hitchings looks at the history of manners and etiquette and changing social mores. Fascinating in some respects although I did bristle at some of the observations I didn't feel were quite accurate. An entertaining read though.
March 11, 2014
This book was just not as interesting as I thought it would be.
February 20, 2014
Interesting in parts, slightly dull and boring in others.
July 4, 2016
Solid, serious, comprehensive.
October 10, 2019
Although most people have some idea of what good (or bad) manners are, it’s less likely they know where they come from. Hitchings addresses that through a comprehensive historical review, with some fun tidbits along the way. He brings the perspectives of the past to bear on customs of the present, using examples from writers such as Samuel Pepys, Lord Chesterfield, and Fanny Trollope. This rambling examination is concerned only with English manners, not those of other British countries. Hitchings is affectionate toward typically English mannerisms such as tactfully saying one thing, when meaning another—when told, “We really must have lunch sometime,” does anyone believe it’ll actually happen? The book contains some illuminating examples of how manners are a social construct and can vary widely across cultures. The tour of manners encompasses living conditions, language, social structures, innovations, and philosophy throughout centuries. This is not a book of etiquette instruction, but deconstruction. For those who wish to dig deeper into the myriad forces at work behind polite customs, large and small, the book is sure to please.
Thankfully, he seems to relish ripping the vanities and entitlements of self-proclaimed behavioral experts to shreds. Hitchings . . . has earned a reputation as that rare nonfiction author who suffuses his rigorous (and at times slightly eccentric) scholarly research with enough wit and lively skepticism to render otherwise dull passages entertaining. This reputation proves accurate: as the author embarks on his colorful, rambling, and critically exacting exploration of the evolution of English rules of behavior, it becomes obvious that he could make a detailed history of the canned food industry sing like a coloratura . . . He comes across more as a scattered but lovable history professor whose classes are legendarily entertaining . . . Not only does Hitchings charm us with illustrative details straight out of the gate, but, as he advances from medieval mores through the Renaissance and on to the Victorian era, he never loses sight of the conflicts inherent in the regulation of human behavior . . . The sharpness of Hitchings's analysis and the intensity of his passion for his subject shine through on every page. In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book about manners and Englishness, Hitchings describes his own country's culture as a paradox: simultaneously rude and polite . . . Like a good conversation, [Sorry!] allows for many fruitful digressions . . . Hitchings is a lively guide through these thickets, pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. Part social history, part cultural critique, the book moves humorously from the ancient to the modern with pithy anecdotes and amusing factoids. In the medieval court of Henry II, ‘One shouldn't attack an enemy while he is defecating, should avoid sharing secrets with one's wife, and ought to look towards the ceiling when belching.' . . . This seriously amusing and illuminating book goes a long way toward explaining to Anglophobe, Anglophile, and the just plain puzzled why ‘the average Briton says "Sorry" eight times a day.
Thankfully, he seems to relish ripping the vanities and entitlements of self-proclaimed behavioral experts to shreds. Hitchings . . . has earned a reputation as that rare nonfiction author who suffuses his rigorous (and at times slightly eccentric) scholarly research with enough wit and lively skepticism to render otherwise dull passages entertaining. This reputation proves accurate: as the author embarks on his colorful, rambling, and critically exacting exploration of the evolution of English rules of behavior, it becomes obvious that he could make a detailed history of the canned food industry sing like a coloratura . . . He comes across more as a scattered but lovable history professor whose classes are legendarily entertaining . . . Not only does Hitchings charm us with illustrative details straight out of the gate, but, as he advances from medieval mores through the Renaissance and on to the Victorian era, he never loses sight of the conflicts inherent in the regulation of human behavior . . . The sharpness of Hitchings's analysis and the intensity of his passion for his subject shine through on every page. In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book about manners and Englishness, Hitchings describes his own country's culture as a paradox: simultaneously rude and polite . . . Like a good conversation, [Sorry!] allows for many fruitful digressions . . . Hitchings is a lively guide through these thickets, pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. Part social history, part cultural critique, the book moves humorously from the ancient to the modern with pithy anecdotes and amusing factoids. In the medieval court of Henry II, ‘One shouldn't attack an enemy while he is defecating, should avoid sharing secrets with one's wife, and ought to look towards the ceiling when belching.' . . . This seriously amusing and illuminating book goes a long way toward explaining to Anglophobe, Anglophile, and the just plain puzzled why ‘the average Briton says "Sorry" eight times a day.
December 6, 2017
I picked this book up because it seemed pretty interesting and I’m all about reading about England right now.
Sorry! The English and their Manners is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a chronological exploration of the development of manners in the English, starting with manners in medieval Britain.
Although the book is supposed to be all about the English, the fact that the English have been influenced by different cultures, like the Italians, means that the book also touches on manners in different countries as well. There are also two chapters where American manners are discussed and a few more where they’re mentioned. So while this book is primarily about the English, it’s not exclusively about them.
Something I found interesting (in a TIL manner) is that the Victorians had an “aversion to wasted words”, which was in turn “part of a new science of conversation”. Thus the shortening of “I am sorry” to just “sorry”.
I also liked the discussion about manners at the end of the book, where the author raises the possibility that instead of manners being in decline, the world has simply become more complex. For example, people in the past didn’t have to deal with the complexities of internet etiquette, like if you have to accept your boss’s Facebook friend request.
While this isn’t a book on etiquette in England, it’s an interesting look and discussion on how manners have evolved. If you’re interested in the lesser-considered aspects of history, you may want to take a look at this.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
Sorry! The English and their Manners is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a chronological exploration of the development of manners in the English, starting with manners in medieval Britain.
Although the book is supposed to be all about the English, the fact that the English have been influenced by different cultures, like the Italians, means that the book also touches on manners in different countries as well. There are also two chapters where American manners are discussed and a few more where they’re mentioned. So while this book is primarily about the English, it’s not exclusively about them.
Something I found interesting (in a TIL manner) is that the Victorians had an “aversion to wasted words”, which was in turn “part of a new science of conversation”. Thus the shortening of “I am sorry” to just “sorry”.
I also liked the discussion about manners at the end of the book, where the author raises the possibility that instead of manners being in decline, the world has simply become more complex. For example, people in the past didn’t have to deal with the complexities of internet etiquette, like if you have to accept your boss’s Facebook friend request.
While this isn’t a book on etiquette in England, it’s an interesting look and discussion on how manners have evolved. If you’re interested in the lesser-considered aspects of history, you may want to take a look at this.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
October 19, 2021
I read Hitchings' book on Samuel Johnson's dictionary a few years ago and enjoyed it a lot.
So I had reasonably high hopes for this one.
The title suggests he was trying to write a cultural history of English manners, which is a bit of a challenge from the outset and he was never going to please everybody.
Unfortunately, to write compellingly and focusedly about the English and their manners, he would need to clearly define what he means by manners and what he means by "the English", provide some overview of manners across other nations including the rest of the UK and thereby explain how English manners are distinctive (if indeed they truly are - for me, much of what he says about English manners would go for those of pretty much any society). I would also hope that he would explore the variety in English manners, not only over time, but also by region, gender, class and so on.
And on most of these points, he fails, in my view.
To be fair, he has clearly read around the subject very widely and marshals his research resasonably well. The result is that the book is full of interesting tidbits, especially from prior centuries.
His analysis of current-day English manners is a bit suspect, though. It seems largely based on anecdotal observations from his conversations with friends and his outings with his girlfriend.
There is some good stuff here, for sure. But the book as a whole is not wholly successful.
So I had reasonably high hopes for this one.
The title suggests he was trying to write a cultural history of English manners, which is a bit of a challenge from the outset and he was never going to please everybody.
Unfortunately, to write compellingly and focusedly about the English and their manners, he would need to clearly define what he means by manners and what he means by "the English", provide some overview of manners across other nations including the rest of the UK and thereby explain how English manners are distinctive (if indeed they truly are - for me, much of what he says about English manners would go for those of pretty much any society). I would also hope that he would explore the variety in English manners, not only over time, but also by region, gender, class and so on.
And on most of these points, he fails, in my view.
To be fair, he has clearly read around the subject very widely and marshals his research resasonably well. The result is that the book is full of interesting tidbits, especially from prior centuries.
His analysis of current-day English manners is a bit suspect, though. It seems largely based on anecdotal observations from his conversations with friends and his outings with his girlfriend.
There is some good stuff here, for sure. But the book as a whole is not wholly successful.
July 2, 2023
I don't know what to make of this. It's a history lesson, culture lesson, manner lesson, anecdote file, all rolled up into one. It was boring. And even if it was well researched, it was still on the subject of a trifle. Manners, though the fabric of society, are still a trifle and don't merit a long book, maybe just a chapter. Manners studies are not my cup of tea. Besides, it was superficial. Manners are fundamentally superficial. This is why England, though impeccably mannered, is still not as good a society as America, which has normal manners. A good society needs good manners. Yet though manners are important, they don't make the man. Moreover, in excess, they can mask for a lack of heart. Anyway, the voice of the writer is kind of snobbish; he's not a bad guy but he's a preppy.
August 31, 2020
Ask anyone to discuss manners, courtesy, etiquette and how these things both distinguish and unite groups of people and they may start with a "well of course..." But it will be quickly obvious that it is not as simple as the apparent ease with which we navigate these interrelated things would suggest. Sorry! is neither a complete answer, nor it is it prescriptive. What it does do is sample from enough sources, including the author's experience to give you a flavor of the complexity of the topic and an appetite for being more observant of these things in the future.
August 3, 2019
I loved this book, especially the first half.
It rambles on like a favorite uncle would.
(If you don't like that style perhaps you won't enjoy this book.)
I recommend this book for:
Anyone who speaks English,
especially if you're from the colonized places.
Autistic people / people with Autism / on the spectrum (Such as myself), because this book deals so much with WHY people have the behaviours they have, also it's packed with juicy facts, and is at times a bit witty.
It rambles on like a favorite uncle would.
(If you don't like that style perhaps you won't enjoy this book.)
I recommend this book for:
Anyone who speaks English,
especially if you're from the colonized places.
Autistic people / people with Autism / on the spectrum (Such as myself), because this book deals so much with WHY people have the behaviours they have, also it's packed with juicy facts, and is at times a bit witty.
August 20, 2020
Lost interest after about 100 pages. Not insightful, not funny, not clever. Hitchings seems to be more of a journalist than a book author, and it shows. He seems to keep forgetting that he's supposed to be writing about English manners; the chapter titles appear to be mostly notional given how the subject of the actual content bounces around from paragraph to paragraph.
May 7, 2021
Interesting in places but the author has a habit of jumping from one direction to another. It feels like each chapter is a college essay where as many relevant quotes are introduced as can possibly be included. The result is text that rarely flows and a feeling that subjects have been introduced and then discarded before being fully considered.
May 4, 2022
The book contains an expertly researched and entertaining history of what a slew of English manners even exist. The author draws on famous literary figures, geography, philosophy, social structure, etc., to explain why we do what we do.
February 18, 2023
The book is a bit advanced for readers like me. A simplified version would have been more beneficial. Although the matter is quite interesting and is full of researches on chronology of the terms and their etymology.
January 15, 2026
"Because we use language to project ourselves into the world, and because we use other people's language to inform judgements about their character, it's never 'only' words. We attach great importance to them; they seem to act as summaries of attitudes."
March 29, 2018
Most interesting!
October 31, 2018
It didn't really hold my attention (sorry not sorry)
September 17, 2019
Really gets bogged down by too much detail about the history of manners. I expected it to be more light hearted and funny and not so pedantic.
June 3, 2020
Interesting read. Not what I was expecting. I was expecting to read about English manners today. It is actually a historical X-ray that talks about the evolution of manners.
April 8, 2022
This was advertised as a lighthearted look at the English and their manners. In fact it was boring and tedious.
May 9, 2022
A strange mix between interesting historical evidence, dull writing, lack of charisma and random anecdotes added for .. padding out the pages? Interesting but very little to hold it a together.
May 6, 2015
Yet in truth material comfort insulates most of us from the deprivation that manners used to palliate.
That's the first sentence of the final paragraph of Sorry!: The English and Their Manners and it's representative of the book. Hitchings' writing isn't stuffy, per se. The book is peppered with words we wouldn't be allowed to say on American television (primarily the F-word and the C-word), and occasional (and oddly) colorful expressions, like sexual assault as "priapic blitzkrieg." But the writing is fussy, academic (though not entirely dry), and lacking the verve (that would usually make a title promoted like this one was) to be charming. It works better if you imagine a tweedy, professorial sort standing and reading the book aloud than if you try to snuggle on the couch and take it all in.
The problem, I fear, is that Hitchings is no Bill Bryson, and that's what this book needs. Stick with me here. The book is well-researched, just like a Bryson book, but it lacks warmth, real humor, and any sort of narrative flow. With Bryson's book, everything always comes full circle, so you see the connections at the end of what initially appears to be discursive, and you smile with that sense of having achieved the Ah-ha moment.
I read the entire book, and yet I don't feel I have any greater sense of what makes English manners particularly English. Perhaps it's because the book spends an inordinate amount of text on pre-1700s global history of what people said about manners and the language used to reference manners, then takes a brief foray into Fanny Trollope's views on America, and finally, tucked away in a chapter entitled "What Were Victorian Values?" there's one paragraph on Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige of 1956, class indicators, U vs. Non-U, and what I would have expected a book about English manners to say about language selection. The rest of the book seems to be an occasionally entertaining slog through history without creating palpable, clarified connections.
The main problem is not the style of the writing, but the content, or at least, with readers' expectations regarding the content. Had this been put forth as an academic tome, we Anglophiles may have picked it up anyway, but it was portrayed as a book that explains from where these English styles of manners have come, and notwithstanding the dense references to other writers and commenters through history, we rarely get a sense of a timeline as to how particular manners came to be, nor what makes them particularly English.
There are glimmers -- the chapter on table manners does an excellent job of pinning the change from Game of Thrones-style use of knives and the delicacy at table we see in Downton Abbey. But these glimmers are all too brief. The last 100 years of manners, and specifically English manners, are lost. You'd expect a book like this to dig deeply in explaining how manners have (or even haven't) changed in England from pre-WWI life through WWII (and particularly through the Blitz), and onward through the century into current days, but aside from a quick nod to modern rudeness, it's as if everything that we need to know about English manners was solidly in place by 1840.
Hitchings writes flawlessly in that there are no grammatical errors. He has a fine mastery of language. (I had to look up "rebarbative" as it's not commonly used on this side of the Atlantic.) And he's able to create vivid visuals when he choses to. But the book is dense where it should be light, shallow where it should go into depth with details, and it flits around when a timeline or narrative flow is really needed to propel the reader forward with interest.
Perhaps I'm damning Hitchings for not being a Bill Bryson (or even a David McCullough) when I should be damning his editor for not massaging this into something that could have been great rather than good. This is not for the casual reader or Anglophile. I'm a completist, but if you're not burdened by that particular character flaw, skip this. Kate Fox's Watching the English does a much better job of explaining English manners, even if it's not quite the history lesson Hitchings tries to present.
That's the first sentence of the final paragraph of Sorry!: The English and Their Manners and it's representative of the book. Hitchings' writing isn't stuffy, per se. The book is peppered with words we wouldn't be allowed to say on American television (primarily the F-word and the C-word), and occasional (and oddly) colorful expressions, like sexual assault as "priapic blitzkrieg." But the writing is fussy, academic (though not entirely dry), and lacking the verve (that would usually make a title promoted like this one was) to be charming. It works better if you imagine a tweedy, professorial sort standing and reading the book aloud than if you try to snuggle on the couch and take it all in.
The problem, I fear, is that Hitchings is no Bill Bryson, and that's what this book needs. Stick with me here. The book is well-researched, just like a Bryson book, but it lacks warmth, real humor, and any sort of narrative flow. With Bryson's book, everything always comes full circle, so you see the connections at the end of what initially appears to be discursive, and you smile with that sense of having achieved the Ah-ha moment.
I read the entire book, and yet I don't feel I have any greater sense of what makes English manners particularly English. Perhaps it's because the book spends an inordinate amount of text on pre-1700s global history of what people said about manners and the language used to reference manners, then takes a brief foray into Fanny Trollope's views on America, and finally, tucked away in a chapter entitled "What Were Victorian Values?" there's one paragraph on Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige of 1956, class indicators, U vs. Non-U, and what I would have expected a book about English manners to say about language selection. The rest of the book seems to be an occasionally entertaining slog through history without creating palpable, clarified connections.
The main problem is not the style of the writing, but the content, or at least, with readers' expectations regarding the content. Had this been put forth as an academic tome, we Anglophiles may have picked it up anyway, but it was portrayed as a book that explains from where these English styles of manners have come, and notwithstanding the dense references to other writers and commenters through history, we rarely get a sense of a timeline as to how particular manners came to be, nor what makes them particularly English.
There are glimmers -- the chapter on table manners does an excellent job of pinning the change from Game of Thrones-style use of knives and the delicacy at table we see in Downton Abbey. But these glimmers are all too brief. The last 100 years of manners, and specifically English manners, are lost. You'd expect a book like this to dig deeply in explaining how manners have (or even haven't) changed in England from pre-WWI life through WWII (and particularly through the Blitz), and onward through the century into current days, but aside from a quick nod to modern rudeness, it's as if everything that we need to know about English manners was solidly in place by 1840.
Hitchings writes flawlessly in that there are no grammatical errors. He has a fine mastery of language. (I had to look up "rebarbative" as it's not commonly used on this side of the Atlantic.) And he's able to create vivid visuals when he choses to. But the book is dense where it should be light, shallow where it should go into depth with details, and it flits around when a timeline or narrative flow is really needed to propel the reader forward with interest.
Perhaps I'm damning Hitchings for not being a Bill Bryson (or even a David McCullough) when I should be damning his editor for not massaging this into something that could have been great rather than good. This is not for the casual reader or Anglophile. I'm a completist, but if you're not burdened by that particular character flaw, skip this. Kate Fox's Watching the English does a much better job of explaining English manners, even if it's not quite the history lesson Hitchings tries to present.
December 9, 2015
I'm "Sorry" I bought this book and "sorry" I tried to read it. I thought this book would be a list of the quirky things only British people say to be polite. But instead this book chronicles the incredibly boring evolution of nothing in particular. It's clear he did read a lot of books about etiquette as research for this, because he shares his reviews of all of them. Every chapter rambles on and on and yet nothing new is said. Unbelievably circular writing. I can't bring myself to waste anymore of my time trying to finish it. I only got as far as I did because it was the book I was stuck with on the airplane.
October 11, 2015
Great information. Very thought provoking. I loved how it demonstrated the cyclical nature of what is considered proper behavior and terminology. It was at once hopeful and hopeless. His writing style at times seemed choppy, or overly fluid. I wouldn't have minded it being organized into a traditional non-fiction style and less prosy, but except for being lost in a few transitions and shamed by my lack of vocabulary, I enjoyed this book immensely. Three and a half stars instead of four because of readability, not content.
February 24, 2015
Some interesting bits, some non-interesting bits, all presented in a random manner ambling from topic to topic, some of which have very little to do with either English or manners. A book without a head or a tail that touches on many interesting things and gives many interesting facts and thoughts, but they get lost in the random presentation of an author meandering through his subjects without actually committing to any. I found myself reading with rapt interest only to lose it when the author is reminded of something else and starts talking about that. Rather disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews