Monday

Manners

I learned yesterday in Richard Brookhiser's biography of George Washington that he relied heavily on a 16th-century Jesuit text of manners. Washington transcribed the book as a teenager and kept it with him the rest of his life. I believe I have located the little book, which you can find here. I like the first lesson the most: "Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present."

When did Americans stop reading about manners? My parents encouraged me to read and encouraged me to develop manners, but it apparently never dawned on them to encourage me to read about manners. It apparently never dawned on the parents of any of my friends . . . nor did it dawn on any of my Sunday School teachers, elementary school teachers, high school teachers, or college professors. Yet, based on what I read yesterday, the study of manners was commonplace in the eighteenth century and in previous centuries.

Manners are an acknowledgement of the dignity that exists in each person as a creature made in God's image. In one sense, good manners are spiritual, albeit at the most mundane level. There's a lot of spiritual gold in that little Washington book, not to mention common sense. I plan to mine it shortly for my children's benefit. I hope to combine it with other books of manners. If anyone has any suggestions, please pass them along.

Grammar Corner

Please: If you write, don't use the word "as" instead of "since" or "because" or "so." I recently had someone suggest revisions to something I had written. I downloaded it, and it was littered with that ear-dudding word. If you need a better authority than me for this stylistic proposition, I offer Robert Hartwell Fiske:

"AS"--Misused for because or since. Very little goes to waste, as almost the entire creature is edible. USE since. *** Enthusiastic capitalists are rarely conflicted about turning away from an open palm, as most believe that the U.S. economy offers everyone a fair shot and therefore losers are just plain losers. USE since. *** That does not happen now, however, as there is just too much mail. USE because. *** The situation may be worse as 12 of the 43 schools surveyed did not response. USE since.

As instead of because or since is sometimes ambiguous for the word while, and therefore is best not used casually, What's more, as is decidedly colloquial; it is used by everyday, uninspired writers.

Autobiographical Corner

Big event in my life: I installed a computer monitor yesterday. It might not seem like much, but it's the first time I've done something like that with computer hardware. It reminds me of the time that I told the attorneys at my office that I replaced a toilet stool. They were impressed, mentioning all the hassles of getting the seal just right and stuff like that. I was puzzled and told them I didn't have to do any of those things. They then realized I was just talking about the seat.

And then they weren't impressed. In fact, "derisory" is probably a better adjective to describe their reaction.