1/29/2008

I have a collection of etiquette books. My first and favorite was found in the free books box outside of Powell's in Hyde Park. It's Vogue's Book of Etiquette, published in 1948. The author is Millicent Fenwick, an associate editor of Vogue. That a Vogue editor would write an etiquette book and that she should have such a perfect name for the task makes my heart beat just a tiny bit faster.

Anyway, here's a tidbit to amuse you in these days of informality.

A man addressing a woman always waits to call a woman by her first name until she has taken the initiative. A woman may make a point of the change by saying, "Please, don't call me Mrs. Edwards"; or she may simply start calling the man by his first name. But, unless the man is very much older than the woman, he should never fall into the modern rudeness of saying, "Do call me George."

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