Friday, April 23, 2010

In The Living Room

                                            More Etiquette

Now I am going to stick my neck out and ask for your advice.  In my conversation with Frances, Amy, and Brad I discovered that they have opinions too about young people rising when their elders enter the room.  Frances says the guys generally will for the girls her age, but not especially for their parents. She finds this to be inconsistent.

So I'm asking for you all to tell me what the ten rules of living room etiquette are before I post them. I'll post anything you comment to me as long as it's a good practical idea that anybody can understand. There are two scenarios that I wish for you to consider: 1.The room is seated full of young people and you are older than most of them. You are bringing your friends with you hoping to find a place to sit and visit. 2. You are a girl or an older person coming into a room where there are plenty of places to sit for you and your friends who are with you. Is there anything they ( those already seated) should do? I'm asking. This is not a catch question. 



12 comments:

  1. What irkes me is to see able bodied young men sitting on comfortable couches, while girls are sitting on the floor, most often who are quite a bit older... For some girls this maybe isn't a big deal, but for me, hard surfaces get very ouchy after awhile, esp. right now... Just my two cents...

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  2. I thought the sixties took care of all this? I think that it's only polite for an gentleman regardless of age to offer his seat to a lady or older person. Having said that, sometimes it doesn't come as naturally among family members... In scenario 2 I don't think it's necessary for everyone to pop up like toy soldiers, but maybe it would be more polite. ~GB

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  3. Elv's comment so far is that it's not necessary as you say Gabe, for people to be bobbing up whenever someone come into the room. However, he suggests that it is a very good idea for young people and children especially, to pay attention to who is arriving in the living room and to give their chairs to others older than themselves, most certainly to parents, strangers, and the aged.

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  4. Sorry, Lance was signed in. amg

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  5. P.S. to my comment... I try to say "Thank you" to whoever gives up their seat for me instead of taking it for granted. And I do agree, in scenario 2, that bobbing up everytime someone comes into the room is rather Emily Post-ish.

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  6. Now my two cents. Let the lady who is going to have a baby soon have a soft chair. Need chairs? Get more chairs, a good job for young men by the way (I would consider myself young for that matter). I would admit though, it is really difficult for me to bob up a like toy soldier. I guess I justify that because I am married man who wants to sit by his wife. Am I wrong on that last one? I will concede that when things get crowded I usually end up on the floor in front of my wife.

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  7. Don't force a person to take a chair they don't want. I often prefer to sit on the floor if the chair looks uncomfortable or is across the room from my husband. I think it is ridiculous when someone, trying to be polite, gets up off of their chair that the other person doesn't even want, and there sits an empty chair for the rest of the evening.

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  8. PS To Clark's comment, as I recall, Gabe and I have to beat you and Charlotte to the living room, if we expect to get a comfortable place to sit at Mom and Dad's...just a thought :) Don't you think it would be polite for you both to get up and offer us your chair?

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  9. In response to Jenny. Your just whining because you couldn't get the love seat while you and Gabe were dating.

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  10. Hmmm maybe I can come up w/ a smart response?!!! :) I'm pretty sure I was taught that the proper thing to do when someone older or a lady comes into the room was to stand up and acknowledge their presence in a nice way...the people in the room can then continue on w/ their conversations but mustn't sit down until the elder person or lady had taken her seat. So in our day and age maybe that's too stiff? But I still think that principle is good! And I think too...that I've seen pretty often young girls popping up because the guys come in....and give up their chairs for the guys. That really is backwards from Emily Post! And one more thing.....I think it would be nice to teach the girls young to sweetly accept the guys being gentlemen and say thank you nicely rather than blush and bluster and get embarrassed and make everyone feel uncomfortable in the end...or else make the guy feel dumb for treating them nicely. I think the feminist spirit comes through too often and we ladies get this attitude "don't sugar me up...I'm cool" and we botch up the whole good deal that it use to be!!! :)

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  11. Amy, you are getting wise as you grow older :)....i think you're right on about the feminist thing ..it would be much more graceful to smile and say THANK YOU...

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