MemeMachineGo!

=v= As a blue-collar latchkey kid growing up in the "do your own thing"/"greed is good" era, I had no formal training in manners. Significant others have tried to school me in the ways of Emily Post, but this was often thwarted by my class consciousness (Who's going to wash all these butter knives and ancillary plates, the servants?) and ecological concerns (Why are we wasting butter on all these knives and plates, just so the servants can do twice as much washing?) Miss Manners has made snobbery humorous, but the bottom line is still very 1980s Republican (and Spy did it so much better anyway).

Fortunately we still have George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation to guide the way. "Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present" is at the top of the list, and rightly so. These two rules follow:

2nd  When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.
3rd  Show Nothing to your Friend that may affright him.

Washington adapted these rules from those set down by French Jesuits in 1595, who must have thrown some pretty wild parties. One of my fellows of the secretive Muted Horn was quite taken with rule the 13th, which covers the disposal of fleas, ticks, filth, and spittle, but I'm more concerned with rule the 18th:

18th  Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but when there is a Necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave ...

Surely this can be extended to the practice of texting while operating Carriages, so as not to crowd Velocipedes from the public Way? Other Rules can be adapted to online Discourse, with great Effect. Check 'em out!

(Via the Muted Horn)