Etiquette History

1. Etiquette is Rules of behaviour which have evolved over time.

2. Another term for good manners in society.

3. 3.The proper way people should behave in society. It is a way of treating people with consideration, respect and honesty.

Etiquette: rules for formal behavior.

Protocol: rules for diplomatic behavior

1. is about presenting yourself the right kind of polish needed to enhance your professionalism.

2. is about being comfortable around people and making them comfortable around you.

3. Helps you to know how to present yourself in challenging business situations and ease unpredictable uncomfortable situations that can break a business relationship.

4. Builds better relationships and confidence.

5. Aids in communication

Etiquette has always been an important part of life, whether it is in social life or in business arena, especially in the last decade. Business world is becoming more global there fore your actions, behaviour and your attitude have profound impact on how people perceive you.

It helps to ease unpredictable, uncomfortable situations that can break a business relationship, builds better relationships, builds confidence, aids in communication.

1. Poor dining skills.
2. Late arrival.
3. Inappropriate dress.
4. Rude or arrogant behaviour.
5. Nervousness.
6. Poor eye contact.
7. Inability to communicate.
8. Failure to follow up.
9. Inappropriate conversational topics.
10. Negative body language

We all grew up being told to keep our elbows off the table, to cover our mouths when we yawn, to shake hands with people, and to be polite to everyone we meet. Sometimes we need to make a toast to celebrate an event with a friend. We know these things are polite, even expected of us, but what is it about elbows that are so inappropriate at a dinner table etc…..?

Most of these courtesies can be traced back to the middle Ages of history, the age of knights, kings and queens. Some of them were created to be courteous, some were meant to be symbolic, and some were simply matters of logic.

To start with, we’ll take a look at handshakes. Most people know this one. An empty hand presented forward to another person was the easiest and most recognizable way to show someone that you weren’t holding a weapon. By the other man extending his own empty hand, it showed that he also was unarmed. Therefore, a handshake meant they were going to talk instead of fight.

Making a toast, oddly enough, making a toast, with the clinking of the glasses together is a tradition; it was originally done so that when the glasses clinked, the drinks sloshed together on impact. This meant that whatever was in one drink (poison, drugs), had now been passed into both glasses. If you were going to drug your friend, you got some as well. This made it in your best interest to not let your friend drink an evil drink.

has two logics to it, both of which are more than sensible. The first was religious. When you yawned, with your mouth wide open, the Devil could reach right in and yank out your soul. No sense losing your soul just because you were sleepy. The second reason, much more practical and understandable, is that in the Middle Ages, cleanliness was next to nothingness. Bathing was considered unhealthy, so most of the peasants and nobility stank badly. And when yawning, people had a very real chance of swallowing one of the many flies that swarmed around them. It’s very bad form to choke on a fly at a formal party.

Always keep your elbows off the table, it’s rude! But why? First thing to bear in mind; back in the old days, people sat down to dinner differently than we do now. It was more like a high school cafeteria, where people squeezed into a long table that was set into a row. This meant that each person was packed very tightly in between the people on either side of him, and simply didn’t have much room to eat. The elbows weren’t allowed on the table because if you had an elbow on the table, the only place for it was in the middle of the next person’s plate. It was a courtesy made out of necessity. If someone had their elbows on the table, someone else couldn’t eat. Simple.

There are a lot of things in our lives we take for granted, without knowing why. Some things we did five hundred years ago because they were safety precautions, or physical requirements, are absurd now, but we do them because they’ve been passed down through the years.

Louis XIV's in French kings) gardener at Ver sailles was faced with a serious problem; he could not stop members of the nobility from trampling about in the delicate areas of the King's garden. He finally overcame this by putting up signs around the delicate areas warning the nobles "ne pas marcher sur l'herbe" (Keep off the Grass). Unfortunately, the nobles paid little or no attention to these signs until the King's own gardener threatened to ban them from the palace. Soon the threats carried and everyone began to follow the King's rules, which included the requirement that the nobles follow the "etiquette" court rules for all of 'observe & show.

The word 'etiquette' in the dictionary means rules of formal behavior. It evolved in order to let us present ourselves with confidence and authority in all areas of our professional and personal life.

• In different societies, good manners were considered an important part of a child's upbringing until the 1960s.
• The 60s and 70s ushered in a decline in the popularity of etiquette training.
• the return to traditional social values in the '80s and '90s, partly as a reaction to the previous two decades, has created an increasing awareness of the importance good manners have in our culture.
• As our world becomes a smaller place and our economy becomes increasingly
• global in scope, it is becoming increasingly clear how important good manners are in all cultures.