Have you ever been scolded for not covering your mouth while yawning or talking while having your dinner? Since these gestures are natural, a number of times we are not aware of its impact on others.
Well, most of these courtesies can be traced back to the Middle Ages to the era of kings and queens, knights in shining armour and chivalry. Some of them were created to be courteous, some were meant to be symbolic, and some were simply matters of logic. Learn the significance of these…
Raising a Toast : Toast and clinking of glasses together, was originally done so that when the glasses clinked, the drinks sloshed together on impact. This meant that whatever was in one drink passed into both glasses. So if someone is planning to drug a friend, he too would get some!
The Story Behind the Handshake : An empty hand presented forward to another person, and receiving the same response, was the easiest and most recognizable way to show someone that people weren’t holding a weapon! Therefore, a handshake meant they were going to talk instead of fight.
Yawning? Cover Your Mouth : This has two logics to it. On a religious level if you yawned, with your mouth wide open, the Devil could reach right in and yank out your soul. Secondly, in the Middle Ages bathing was considered unhealthy, so most of the peasants and nobility stank badly. So it seemed logical to cover one’s mouth while yawning.
Keep Your Elbows Off the Table : Why is it rude? First thing to bear in mind is that back in the old days people sat down to dinner, squeezed, into a long table that was set into a row. This meant that each person was packed very tightly in between the people on either side of him, and simply didn’t have much room to eat. The elbows weren’t allowed on the table because if someone had their elbows on the table, the other couldn’t eat.
TOP TEN ETIQUETTE TIPS FOR YOUR CHILD : It is important to teach children at a young age, the importance of appreciating the efforts of others. Your children will be the recipients of many gifts. This begins when they are brought into the world and it will continue into their adulthood. There is no excuse for anyone to behave in a less-than civilized manner today. The manner in which you approach your child will depend on his age level. So start to shape the personality of your child by following the ten simple tips mentioned below:
- Please and Thank You : ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ are still the magic words they’ve always been, and you will be doing your child a favour if you insist that she uses them until they become a habit. Everyone likes to be appreciated, and ‘Thank You’ is the accepted way of showing appreciation. ‘Please’ can turn a demand into a request and indicates an option—it can turn an unpopular request into a more palatable one.
- Greetings : Teach your children, as soon as they are old enough to understand, to greet people by name. Learning early on to look someone in the eye and say “Hello Mr. ……” is much more effective instead of just mumbling greetings to the ground.
- Table Manners : Table manners for children should be the same as they are for adults, with one small exception: young children should be permitted to be excused from the table, if the meal is an extended one. Expecting a young child to sit quietly through a protracted meal when his food is gone will result in the child wiggling and fiddling around at the dinning table.
- Privacy : In order to teach your children to respect your privacy, you must respect theirs.
• Don’t try to involve yourself in their conversations.
• Don’t listen in on their telephone conversations.
• Don’t go through their belongings.
• Don’t interfere.
• Knock and wait for a ‘come in’ before entering their
room.
5.Interrupting : Teach your children not to interrupt. This is part of learning to respect other people’s rights. It is up to you to teach your child to wait for a break in a conversation to speak. A mother who consistently stops and says, “What is it, dear?” when her daughter interrupts will not help in building proper manners. Establish a habit that will do her good all her life.
6.Thank You Notes : It is not necessary to write a thank you note, when a gift is opened and the donor is thanked personally at the time of opening. If the gifts are not opened in front of the donors, get your child to write a personal note of thanks to each donors. - Fair Play : Fair play among children builds good sportsmanship and respect for others. It includes the practice of kindness, taking turns and sharing. One of the best ways to teach fair play is by setting a good example.
- Shaking Hands : Teaching your child to shake hands is a good way of getting them used to greeting people appropriately. Teach your child how to shake hands, exchange greetings by looking people in the eye and greet them by name.
- Telephone Manners : A child’s first experience with the phone will be saying “Hi” to a relative or close friend. Good phone manners that children will learn over time include speaking clearly, identifying themselves, taking messages, and not dominating phone use.
- Out and About : Children need to learn that good manners are used everywhere, not just with their grandparents. Table manners, please and thank you, polite greetings, and respectful conversations should called for at home, at friends’ homes, in restaurants, at school, and even in the shopping mall. If children are made to practice good manners regularly at home, they will continue the habit of using them everywhere, adding to your satisfaction and delight.
How do I introduce people? : Always remember to introduce the person of lesser importance to the person of higher importance. How one decides on importance is totally left to one’s discretion, but here are a few guidelines that could ease the matter.
• It is rank, not gender that is important in a business setting.
• Age, experience, job level and public recognition are the key factors while determining importance. So, introduce a younger person to an older person, a co-worker to boss, boss to a client (the client ranks higher in importance than anyone else in the company!) and lay person to an official.
• Whilst being introduced, stand up, or at least make an attempt to rise. Smile and greet the person before shaking hands.