What are some manners/forms of etiquette that you don't follow?

The ridiculous dinner manners. I chew with my mouth shut and pass food around and such but I don’t really care what I do with my napkin and silverware.

so you do hold open the door to all and give up your seat to some, right?

My elbows touch the table a lot. Bad habit. I have nice manners otherwise, and hope to instill into my son that you should always hold doors open for people, and say excuse me no matter where you are, when you walk in front of someone. just little things that bother me

My parents hot wired almost every manner in the book into my dome by the time I was 10. I can’t really think of any that I don’t do, shitty part about it is, most people never notice bad manners, but it drives me up a wall, (I usually never say anything though, because I think that’d be, of all things, impolite lol).

I tend to burp a lot for a grown woman. It’s liberating.

@jamielynn2328 as long as it’s not in the sack, by all means.

@casheroo

Yeah. I just don’t give women and girls special treatment in that field. I have a friend who likes to hold the door open or my friends and I when we are with him; it’s kind of cute…lol

Same as @casheroo – elbows on table. Other than that, I’m practically the love-spawn of Miss Manners.

I’m guilty of the elbows thing, I guess. I also find myself cutting up all of my meat at once.

I too eat with my elbows on the table and cut things all at once. That’s about it.

I cut my food with my left hand. I can’t do it the other way despite years of torture from my father telling me to.

I’ve never in my life been told that elbows on the table, or cutting up all of my food at once, are poor manners. I’m disgustingly guilty of both of those. I can’t imagine cutting up each individual piece of food right before inserting it into my mouth

I don’t say “bless you” or any alternative of it when people sneeze, I don’t use napkins, I don’t give girls special treatment (though being a nerd with nerd friends, girls are a bit uncommon in our realm), I have a tendency to reach across the table for things (I hate interrupting conversation to say “Please pass the gravy” if it’s within my reach. It feels ridiculous), I’ve also been told recently that the way I cut my food (how I hold the utensils) is weird.

I’m sure there are a good dozen more things that’re expected of me that I don’t do, but whatever I do is instinctive and I really can’t think of it at the moment.

Proper table manners are of such importance to me and I am so self-conscious of my physical inability to perform many of them, that I discontinued dining out long ago. Fortunately most of my favorite restaurants allow take out and @sccrowell is very accommodating and forgiving.

Agreeing with Joe.

I am an “elbows on the table” kind of gal, it just never occurs to me not to do that! Also, it is my understanding that I am supposed to break off a piece of bread, butter it, then eat it, not butter the whole thing at once. I butter the whole thing at once.

@SuperMouse Me, too. I do that same bread thing. It just saves time.

I do what is convenient, which includes modifying my behavior according to the company. I treat people with respect and courtesy, and I think that is enough.
Also, you should all move to France. Elbows on table is standard there.

@Bri_L you can tell your dad that you are just doing it the British way – at least that’s what Twin Peaks told me. Confirmation on this, British folks?

I’m Lil Miss Manners. I hold the door open for anyone that is at least 10 ft. behind me, I put the napkin on my lap and I say please and thank you always. What I am guilty of is putting my elbows on the table and I’m terribly lazy when it comes to writing thank you notes.

@SuperMouse I can’t butter the whole piece of bread? Damn! Shucks! I didn’t know that.

@jonsblond: There’s another one. I’m very bad at remembering ‘Thank You’ cards. Is eMail acceptable?

Thank you cards are my nemesis. I think I have a pretty good handle on manners, other than the elbows on the table. It’s just more comfortable, darn it! If we’re eating in a nice restaurant though, I can usually manage to control my elbows, at least until that second martini kicks in.

As for holding doors open, I just think it’s a thoughtful thing to do, regardless of gender. This morning my daughter and I were running through the rain, up to a little diner for breakfast. There was a man outside the door talking on his cell phone, and when he saw us he reached over to open the door. If he hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but since he did (and saved us about a tenth of a second of being further rained on), that little moment cheered me up. It’s nice to see people doing things that aren’t all about “me me me.”

@MissAusten: Well said. I think that’s why I’m disapointed when I hear people say manners are unimportant. Just another sign if selfishness.

I actually get annoyed if I sneeze and no one nearby says “bless you” or “gazundheit” (sp) or something.

@cprevite

I happen to think the idea of saying “bless you” when someone sneezes is really stupid. I mean, if you just start thinking about it, it’s pretty dumb. It was invented in the Middle Ages so you wouldn’t sneeze your soul out. (Which leads me back to the whole “superstitions are forms of OCD” thing). I mean, sneezing has nothing to do with another person; why should they intervene?

i think holding the door for someone is just being considerate, nothing to do with etiquette. i won’t stand back and hold it for them to go first, necessarily but i will go through it and keep it open for them to grab it. to let it close in their face is just rude.

table manners were drilled in to me and i am kind of a snob about them – how to sit, hold utensils, napkin on lap. i don’t do the buttering little piece of bread thing, though.

@jca how to hold utensils! YES! Sorry to shout there but I can’t believe the number of people I see holding their fork like a shovel! For some reason that one makes me crazy.

@DominicX my grandmother told me that when a person sneezes their heart actually stops for a split second. I have no idea if that is true, as a matter of fact I’m pretty sure it is an old wives tale, but since she said that I can’t imagine not saying “God bless you!”

Whether it’s the devil stealing your soul, or your heart skipping a beat, I’m sure everyone here has sneezed dozens of times while other people weren’t around (to bless them) and have survived just fine.

Doing things just cause ancestors did them is AAAWESOOOMEEEEE!

My husbands young cousin told me the other say (she’s seventh day adventist) that you tell people “god bless you” because people used to think it was the soul trying to escape or something like that….I of course question it and say “what good is saying god bless you after the soul already escaped” this question was too profound for a 10 year old.

I do always say “bless you” but not “god bless you” because I think it’s more polite than anything.

I don’t hold the door open nor do I hold the chair for gay men interested in me.

@Zendo Boo-ya! You show those gay men! Yeah, I bet it must really upset them to be denied your hot body. That’ll teach ‘em to be gay!

But seriously, is this a form of etiquette people are expected to follow where you live? That’s progressive as all get-out.

my elbows are very happy on the table, thank you very much.
unless i’m putting them on someone’s dinner plate, i don’t see a problem with it.

I follow most of the Midwestern politeness habits. Hold doors for my elders, smile at people to be friendly, wave at people out in the rural areas, try to avoid belching, farting, and swearing in the company of women and children those are hard to control sometimes and maintaining control of your temper and your lusts in public. I don’t like public shows of affection, no matter what gender people are. Its in poor taste. Table manners are used according to the types of people I am with.

@wildpotato… Actually, they eye me quite… well, no sense going there. I must, of course, break their hearts, for I have promised my heart to another. Alas…

I don’t follow the rules that were designed to humiliate the uninitiated and borne out of intolerance for other peoples’ tastes. For example, I cut my salad with a knife. I don’t get all offended when people cut their wine with water and wouldn’t mind doing it as well if I didn’t like one particular wine. And if someone wants to try how foie gras tastes with BBQ sauce, I’ll gladly share the experience.

I’ve been known to put my elbows on the table
I grab a paper towel and call it a napkin
I rarely send thank-you notes, but if I do, it is a really good one.
I don’t call my Doctor’s “Doctor.” If they use my first name then I use theirs.
I often question authority
i have been known to sing at the dinner table
I have been known to take my shoes off and run through a fountain
I have taken my clothes off at public hot springs, pregnant even. (28 years ago though)
I hate that I sometimes interrupt when people are talking, but in the family I married into, If you want to get a word in edgewise you just have to jump in!
I admit my mistakes publicly. (Skeletons have a way of creeping out of closets to Haunt you so I think it’s better to not put them in there in the first place.)
I have been known to make grown men cry with my brutal honesty. (I need to work on being more gentle while staying honest.)
I eat way to fast and are usually done with my meal while others are still eating their salad. Very embarrassing!

@Judi I agree with you on #4. I hate how the staff always say “Doctor will see you now.” Not THE doctor, or A doctor, but Doctor, like its his name or something. I call my doctor buddy or pal or dude, but in an non-offensive way. Mostly because his first name is a mouthful.

@evelyns_pet_zebra that’s cause all doctors are Time Lords and refuse to tell you their real name (doctor who reference in case anybody missed it)

@Judi I’m always a fast eater too. But that’s moreso of me not stopping to chat between bites like most people (my siblings, parents and relatives included) do, I just get the eating over with first. But yeah if I go to a burger king or something I’ll be done with my burger and halfway through my fries by the time they’ve eaten a quarter of the burger.

I like etiquette. I do not see it as a must to do thing. But it is nice to have an air of being civilized.
Over time it becomes second thought.

Yes, the REAL goal of etiquette is to make people feel comfortable and at ease, not to be stuffy and elitist.
I learned this really well when I was in Monaco. We were staying at the Hotel de Paris and had dinner at Le Louis XV
This has to be the French restaurant of all French restaurants!
I can tell you that this truck drivers daughter was quite intimidated! They gave us the English version of the menu and I still couldn’t read it.
I decided to just admit how foreign this all was to me! I told the waiter that I couldn’t understand the menu and asked if he would just choose my meal for me. He and several assistant waiters doted over us the entire evening. One particular assistant was extra nice. If I would ask him, “How am I supposed to eat this?” he would tell me, and then tell me the history of how it came about. I learned so much at that meal and they never once made me feel uncomfortable for my ignorance. They were the real deal when it comes to being a class act. Any jerk can be a snob, but it takes real class to be gracious even when others don’t understand the rules.
This was probably the best and most enjoyable meals of my life!

I was just talking about how sucky my etiquette was the other day. I say please and thank you, hold the door and the like but I’m disgusted with my impatience and elbows on the table! I need a good etiquette read….

@Judi – I always call them doc. I don’t know why. Never doctor. Doc.

@Bri_L: Too much Bugs Bunny perhaps.

The “hold the car door open” one makes me very uncomfortable. Will the guy think I’m uncouth if I open my own door and get in? Will he think I’m a simpering idiot if I stand there and wait for him to open it? When we arrive somewhere, do I sit there like a lump and wait for him to help me out of the “carriage” like its 1900, or can I just get out myself? I just hate it.

@Skaggfacemutt

See this is what I don’t like. People shouldn’t worry about these things. They’re not supposed to make a person uncomfortable. If they are, maybe people should begin to question whether they should exist.

I would love it if someone would make the holding of the car door illegal.

I have never been very particular about when or where I pass gas.

I eat my salad with a spoon.

I will interrupt you in a heartbeat if you are talking while we are arguing.

I chew with my mouth shut, try not to fart in public and (almost) always remember to say please and thank you. People want more than that?

i call my doctor Brian.

yeah, etiquette and I are not friends
at all.
I pretty much ignore what others call manners if I can help it.
but I can play along if it’s necessary