As a gift, I received an old, but sturdy copy of Emily Post’s Etiquette from a good friend (Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1922, in case you’re wondering).
For “helpful advice (and lots of blog fodder),” she said.
The chapter titles alone are worth studying:
Chapter One. What is Best Society?
Depends on who you ask, I say.
Chapter Fifteen. Dinner-Giving with Limited Equipment.
Sounds like communal cups and shared steak knives.
Chapter Twenty-Six. The House Party in Camp.
Could be etiquette rules for a frat party, could be proper yet discreet ways to filibuster the health care bill.
On the subject of introductions, Ms. Post discusses several do’s and don’ts, which brings me to my entry today.
I’m new here. I want to introduce myself, give you a good reason to come back and read again, fill you in on all my positives. But Ms. Post reminds me on page 8 that “Saccharine chirpings should be classed with crooked little fingers, high hand-shaking and other affectations.”
I thought saccharine just applied to Sweet’N Low. I have a lot to learn.
So, to avoid leaving you with a bitter aftertaste, here are the basics. I love to write. Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, ten minute blog posts. My words are in print in a few places, in the slush pile on the desk of one editor, in postal transit to another. But I work outside of writing, and I’m a mom. My time is limited. Pressured. Thus the title.
Now I’ve said too much, a breach of etiquette perhaps.
I hope you’ll visit again anyway.
