Mirabilis, who is second to none when it comes to finding and cataloguing Cool Things, recently pointed the way to the McCord Museum of Canadian History's Mind Your Manners! online game. As either a man or a woman, or both, but not at once, make your way through common situations (At Home! At the Train Station! At a Fancy Ball!). It's a lot like those flash card games where you learn furriner-speak for "Do you have the time?" and "My elephant's toenail is astonished; pray lend me a toothbrush."
I scored quite high, though higher as a man than as a woman. I could make profound allusions to how this is related to so much more being written of past times from a male viewpoint, but I won't. Instead, I'll use Occam's razor to just note that, so far as this game is concerned, 19th century gentlemen got on by doing everything they could to avoid offending a lady. No social faux pas was so faux that it could not be rescued by deferring to the nearest woman.
Women, though, showed their good breeding by not being offended. This is harder than it looks, especially when it involves Limoges china and clumsy guests. Also by not kissing on their friends in public, that being vulgar (cough). And, and this just had me staring at the monitor, allowing perfect strangers to handle their luggage at the train station. Kids, don't do this. Signal a porter, or travel with servants.
So, there you have it. Manners = Don't Offend and Don't Take Offense. And people wonder how Canada got to be the politeness superpower it is today.
currently brightening the corner where I be: No. 6 The Coombe from the album "The Best Of The Chieftains" by The Chieftains
