Mind your Ps and Qs
In today’s world, you often need a little more than just “please” and “thank you” to solve all your problems. Say you want to tell a coworker she needs to bottom up her blouse a bit more, or perhaps inform a mother that her child is a bit too rambunctious, but don’t know how to say it nicely? Then James Henry’s debut book, “Mind Your Manners! George Washington’s Rules of Civility,” is what you need — a modern take on 111 of George Washington’s own rules of etiquette for today’s society.
“Yeas & Nays” sat down for a civil lunch Saturday with the local author at Founding Farmers restaurant, and got a smile from some of Henry’s suggested “rules of civility.”
Washington: “When in company, put not your hands to any part of the body, not usually discovered.”
Henry’s version: “Fishing for one’s privates should rarely be done in public.”
Washington: “Reproach none for their infirmities of nature, nor delight to put them that have in mind thereof.”
Henry’s version: “Don’t tease freaks or unfortunate geeks.”
Henry claims that “it’s almost fashionable to be rude.” So then we wonder: If this is the new mindset, aided through the ease and detachment of technology (think anonymous blog postings), do Washington’s lessons still apply?
“Technology is just a means [that] has left us more room [for our manners] to decline,” said Henry, who in fact launched a Web site for the tech-savvy to be a bit nicer. A visit to rulesofcivilty.com allows you to send anonymously any of his “rules” to those in need, with out bruising egos. And although he’s embracing technology to combat rudeness, he still has a big problem with texting: “It’s like when you’re dating a girl and then she breaks up with you in a text! What is that?!”
