holiday

During my reading of a very highly interesting book the other day, I stumbled upon some of the most remarkably crude explanations of table manners I have ever heard or read. They were so wonderful, I thought I should share them, in the case you may have need of them. Here is an excerpt from the book:

"...The author, Christian philosopher and educator Erasmus of Rotterdam, the greatest classical scholar of the northern Humanist Renaissance, had hit on a theme ripe for discussion: the importance of instilling manners at an early age. Titled De civilitate morum puerilium, or On Civility in Children, his continued to be reprinted into the eighteenth century, and spawned a multitude of translations. It became a standard school-book for the education of boys throughout Europe."

Here is a sampling of Erasmus's advice:

-"Turn away when spitting lest your saliva fall on someone."
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-"You should not offer your handkerchief to anyone unless it has been freshly washed. Nor is it seemly, after wiping your nose, to spread out your handkerchief and peer into it as if pearls and rubies might have fallen out of your head."
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-"Some people put their hands in the dishes the moment they have sat down. Wolves do that."
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-"If you cannot swallow a piece of food, turn around discreetly and throw it somewhere."
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(taken from the book, Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, by Charles Panati)