Status Updates From Amy Vanderbilt's Everyday E...

Two things I learned from the last chapter on dress:

“The matter of garters for gentlemen is a very touchy subject.“

“Plenty of perfectly nice people cross their legs in church.”

“When I take my baby shopping, I leave his carriage in the sun outside of the supermarket. Often when I come out I find some strange woman leaning over him....”
Wow, times have changed. This letter was from a woman in Miami Beach, FL.

Things I have learned from the teen section:
On a date, I may not tell the waiter my order, I must let my date suggest what I might like and tell my date my order.
Ms. Manners says 12-year-olds can play kissing games at their boy-girl parties.
Lace is an all-year-round fashion.
It is quite proper to wear matching shoes.
A midnight blue tux is not a fad and looks blacker than black at night.

I've been reading this book for far too long--I have it on my desk in my home office to dip into when I have a few spare minutes. Just finished the chapter on Correspondence, most of which is obsolete. A lot about how women are to sign their names, the use of calling cards, and when to send thank you letters.

A lot of persnickety rules about wedding attire. Apparently Episcopalians are exceedingly fond of hats.

Q: Is it okay to travel to my wedding by train with my fiance without a chaperone?
A: Yes, but preferably in quarters in separate cars--the people on the train will be your chaperones.
Ah how times have changed.

A lot of references to servants, particularly questions that mention not having a maid or servants. Most of the advice here seems very common-sense and somewhat relevant to today. However, there are a lot of gender-based rules about the hostess and host roles. Also, a lot more socializing, including a custom of making as many calls on friends as possible on New Year's day.

Best line so far, in response to a woman who got asthma attacks from cigarette smoke, and had a coworker who smoked cigarettes hourly at her nearby desk, as well as men coming to see her boss smoking around her. "In some cases, I understand, psychiatric help is valuable to asthma sufferers." That's right, that reaction to secondhand smoke is just your imagination. This advice brought to you by Phillip Morris.

Found this 1950s book in a thrift store, and I do like vintage etiquette books as a glimpse into how people lived in the past. Most of the manners here are familiar so far. Main notable different is a lot of references to smoking etiquette.