What are the changes you have observed in etiquettes over the years?

The first that comes to mind:

When I was still in my teens, we were taught that well brought up men always opened doors for all females and that not to do so was a major faux pas. I also remember being told by my mother that a gentleman always walks on the street side of the sidewalk when walking with a girl. This was so that any dirt or mud thrown up by cars wouldn’t soil her clothes.

But all this quickly changed in my early twenties during the indomitable en avant of the Women’s Movement.

Ha. In the years since being a tender young lad only wishing to do right by girls and listening to his mother, I’ve heard the opposite about walking down the street with a woman. In urban areas, a man should arrange for the woman to walk on the streetside so to be able to protect her if a mugger jumps out of a recessed doorway or alley.

Things are more relaxed now. It used to be you must send a written thank you note, now an in person thank you or email thank you is acceptable That’s just one example.

Also, the internet is all new (relatively new) and so when a lot of the etiquette rules were made in the days of Emily Post and Miss Manners, things concerning the internet did not exist, so there are no hard and fast rules concerning the internet.

I still try to do the little things my mom taught me that
she learned from her mom. Like…

* Hand-write thank you and sympathy notes
* Open doors for women (including car doors)
* Keep elbows off table
* Bring something for the table when invited for a meal
* Don’t presume to use a stranger’s first name, especially in a business setting
* Don’t pick food off someone else’s plate
* Vote for rational presidential candidates

You know… that kinda “old fashioned” stuff.

^^ Ha. Our mothers must have been sisters.

@Pachy , @Espiritus_Corvus , we must all be cousins! Those are all things that I learned growing up. The only one that I struggle with is keeping my elbows off the table.

Me too!

“Sit up straight like a gentleman,” (tap with a butter knife) “and it will be easier to keep those elbows off the table!”

LOL. Mom knew everything.

Ettiquette hasn’t changed. People may ignore it but like a conscience, it’s still there. For those who think an email is as good as a mailed thank-you note, you are incorrect. Don’t wear your baseball hat to my dinner table or bring a device to it. You may certainly open that door for me; I appreciate it. I won’t fuss at you about elbows on the table, but I will send a message via sign language if you chew with your mouth open or talk while you are chewing.

I was “charged” 5 cents every time I forgot to put my napkin in my lap at the table. Only took about a quarters worth of nickels to ingrain that habit into my 7 yr. old self. haha