Young ladies should not attempt to eat them

[susie_flo]

The following is shamelessly nicked from a post on the St Margarets Community Web site (my local source of all things nimby and bizarre). 

I have decided that the first bullet is highly civilised and shall become my newfound philosophy for time keeping.

The last one would be the undoing of me...   (not even Wensleydale?) 

The one about Jellies and Blancmanges sounds like an obscure form of dinner-table torture


Taken from "Manner and Rules of Good Society (and Solecisms to be Avoided)”  (Published in 1898)
 

• Calling on friends. The time for “morning” calls is usually between the hours of three and six. In the upper circles of society the term ‘morning’ is generally applied to all the hours which precede a late dinner, hence ‘morning’ calls are, strictly speaking, made in the afternoon.
• Invitations to dinner, whether the notice given be a long or short one, should be either accepted or refused within twenty-four hours of their being received.
• On arrival, the guests should then give their names to the servant, that he may announce them. A lady or gentleman, on being announced, should not enter the drawing room arm in arm or side by side. The lady or ladies, if more than one, should enter the room in advance of the gentleman. Ladies and gentlemen should not proceed to the dining room in silence, but at once should enter into conversation with each other. (See the work entitled “The Art of Conversation”)
• When a lady has taken her seat at the dinner table, she should at once remove her gloves. She should unfold her serviette and place it on her lap. It is immaterial whether she places the bread on her left or right side when taking it from the serviette.
• In the case of lighter entrees the contact of the knife is supposed to militate against their delicate flavour: thus for these bonnes bouches the fork is all-sufficient wherewith to divide and eat them.
• Soup should be eaten with a table-spoon and not a dessert-spoon, it would be out of place to use a dessert-spoon for that purpose.
• When oysters are given they precede the soup, and should be eaten with a dinner fork, not a fish fork. Very many ladies do not eat oysters simply because they do not like them, others refuse them under the impression that it is more ladylike not to eat them.
• Some men are very, if not over, fastidious about the appetites displayed by ladies. Others on the contrary, respect a good appetite as giving proof of good health and good digestion
• It is not expected that young ladies should eat of the most highly seasoned or richest of the dishes but should rather select the plainest of the menu. This applies more particularly to young ladies and young married ladies, whilst middle-aged and elderly ladies are at liberty to do pretty much as they please without provoking comment or even observation.
• It hardly be said that it would be a vulgarity to eat peas with a knife, although those who reside abroad, or are in the habit of travelling on the continent, are not unaccustomed to seeing this done by foreigners who are well-bred men.
• Jellies, creams, blancmanges, ice puddings etc; should be eaten with a fork.
• Artichokes are, it may be said, an awkward and untidy vegetable to eat. The heart of the artichoke should be conveyed to the mouth with the fingers and sucked dry. Young ladies should not attempt to eat them.
• Gratuities should never be offered by the guests at a dinner party to the servants in attendance.
• Ladies are not supposed to require a second glass of wine at dessert. If a lady should require a second glass the gentleman seated next to her would fill her glass. She should not help herself to wine.
• As a matter of course young ladies do not eat cheese at dinner parties.

(link to original post:  www.stmgrts.org.uk/archives/2010/04/manners.html)

Comments

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

Hang on, I'm desperately confused now. St Margarets is where I live. The people I know on the internet live in North London. And what's this about ladies not helping themselves to wine? All the ones I know do that. Although to be fair the one I'm married to tends to wave a glass in the air and shout "splishy".

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Yep, I must concur that it is WEIRD to know a fellow St Margaretian on LJ.

And good god... you're not G in disguise are you? I do exactly the same thing to him when my wine glass is empty. (I may have slightly nicked it off Black Books).

Over time my demands have progressed to the more direct "Splish your bitch up!"

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

How odd this is. How many times have you seen Leslie Grantham? I saw him in Oddbins recently. All the previous times I'd seen him had been outside, so this was the first time in captivity. Who's your favourite person in Oddbins? I like the Australian guy with the beard. Simon Hoggart from the Guardian lives on Sandycoombe Road, if you're interested. I think it's no. 35.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I've not noticed Leslie Grantham, but I'm always seeing Jason from The Gadget Show. (I bet he is in Zoran's right now).

Apparently Milton Jones lives on Amyand Park Road... or somewhere near there. I think this is why he's always at The Bearcat. Also Nick Frost moved to St Mags a few years ago and I went a bit fangirly over him in the beer tent at the Summer Fair. (Poor scared man)

Moving downmarket... I also once saw Mike Reid (the 80s DJ, not Frank Butcher) in a yellow sports car parked on my road.

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

TV funnyman Jason Bradbury is Jason's full title. At least that's what they always call him when he comperes the dog show at the St Margarets Fair. At last year's fair my whippet Rufus won the fancy dress competition in a Boris Johnson costume I designed. My other whippet Oscar refused to participate, possibly because his costume was Princess Margaret.

Yes, Milton Jones has a registered business address on Amyand Park Road. Other top celebrities include Debra Stephenson from that thing with John Culshaw and her, Sam Kelly from Allo Allo and John Stapleton and Lynn Faulds Wood. I also once saw Pete Townshend coming out of the barber's just before Richmond Bridge. An easy and potentially lucrative gig for the barber, I thought.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Ok... really? (re: the whippets)
I so wish I had stayed around for the dog judging show.

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

Proof:

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! (and awww... Princess Margaret looks great!)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I just thought to myself "what in the name of Feck is Blue Tulip Rose Reid?"....

And then I blessed the thing that is Wikipedia. I love real life sometimes. More comedy than fiction can offer.

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure the Blue Tulip Rose Read thing is on Youtube. I distinctly remember someone at Classic FM saying that she'd sent Mike Read a picture of her washing machine, and written on the back of it "This proves I have a washing machine. I have called it Mike Read."

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I don't know how anyone managed to eat anythingin these circumstances, in between trying to remember all the rules. Still, on the matter of food choices, I am at least heartened to learn that "middle-aged and elderly ladies are at liberty to do pretty much as they please without provoking comment or even observation."

(PS I can hardly see what I'm writing here, as this comment box is rendering my text as very light grey on a white background. Is that normal? Sorry for any typos, anyway.)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Sorry - the pale grey font thing is a regular complaint on my journal. I occasionally think abot switching templates but never get round to it...

As for middle age - bring it on! I reckon by Victorian standards anything over 30 would count as middle aged, so I'd be well into the drunken asparagus-sucking phase :-)

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

I suspect in the Victorian era a woman who wasn't married by the age of 21 was considered Past It.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

PS - icon LOVE!

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

I see that and raise you with a more stylish hat.

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

Artichokes are, it may be said, an awkward and untidy vegetable to eat. The heart of the artichoke should be conveyed to the mouth with the fingers and sucked dry. Young ladies should not attempt to eat them.

Now want to record a steampunk version of RnB classic

"My artichoke-sucking brings all the boys to the drawing room"

[xrnatyb.livejournal.com]

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