{"id":1808,"date":"2011-04-22T01:00:17","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/info-libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2023-07-12T16:04:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T16:04:41","slug":"1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/04\/22\/1966\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 106 – 1966: The Polite Americans: A Wide-Angle View of our More or Less Good Manners over 300 Years by Gerald Carson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published: New York, 1966<\/p>\n

Today, if you please, we’d like to survey American manners.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gerald Carson’s The Polite Americans<\/em> starts out in the rigid confines of Colonial Massachusetts, where propriety dictated that the populace was allowed to wear \u201cGold or Silver lace, or Buttons, or Points at [their] knees\u201d only if they possessed \u201ca capital of over \u00a3200.\u201d A later chapter is devoted entirely to dueling, in which opponents may assault one another with deadly weapons, but must do so with the utmost politeness. Carson describes the sort of challenge to one’s honor that might necessitate a duel. One example is the contest between U.S. Senator-to-be John Rowan and physician James Chambers, who disagreed over \u201cwho was the better Latinist.\u201d Another chapter is devoted to the dos-and-don’ts of facial hair.<\/p>\n

Carson also assesses the state of American manners in the 1960s, when this book was being written. He cites Nelson Rockefeller\u2019s frequent use of the word \u201chi\u201d instead of \u201chello\u201d as evidence of a decline in formality. But certain rules remained in effect: \u201cthe yawn should be covered\u201d \u2026 \u201ccigarette smokers are not expected to ask permission to light up any more\u201d \u2026 \u201cif you don\u2019t drink, decline quietly, without making a noisy virtue out of it\u201d \u2026 \u201ccompliments are now permissible \"\"<\/a>provided they are at least sixty per cent true.\u201d It’s fun to imagine how Carson might update some of these conventions for the current century.<\/p>\n

Today, Boston consistently ranks high on the list of America’s rudest cities. Across the river in Cambridge, though, MIT does its part to combat boorish behavior.<\/p>\n

Each year during the Independent Activities Period, the Student Activities Office hosts MIT Charm School, a well-attended series of 15-minute lessons on a variety of etiquette topics ranging from how to be a good guest, to appropriate gym behavior. Participants can earn charm degrees by taking multiple classes, and it all contributes to an increased level of civility on campus. Gerald Carson \u2013 oops, excuse us, Mr.<\/em> Carson \u2013 would be proud!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Find it in the library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published: New York, 1966 Today, if you please, we’d like to survey American manners. Gerald Carson’s The Polite Americans starts out in the rigid confines of Colonial Massachusetts, where propriety dictated that the populace was allowed to wear \u201cGold or Silver lace, or Buttons, or Points at [their] knees\u201d only if they possessed \u201ca capital of over \u00a3200.\u201d A later chapter is devoted entirely to dueling, in which opponents may assault one another with deadly weapons, but must do so with the utmost politeness. Carson describes the sort of challenge to one’s honor that might necessitate a duel. One example […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":false,"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-years"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4315,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions\/4315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}