the.com/etiquette
Rules so nobody has to admit they're judging you out loud.
means The agreed-upon code of polite behavior that tells you which fork to use and when to shut up.
from From French étiquette, originally meaning a small ticket or label — the kind stuck on bags or posted at court to show where to stand and how to behave. The story goes that at the French royal court, literal signs (étiquettes) were posted listing the rules of conduct and protocol expected of courtiers, and the word drifted from 'the posted card' to 'the rules on it' to 'proper behavior' in general. It's a cousin of 'ticket' in English, both descending from the same root meaning to stick or attach.
- royal roots
- Versailles once posted actual instruction cards for courtiers
- same word
- etiquette and ticket share one French ancestor
- forks history
- using a dinner fork was once mocked as effeminate
- not manners
- manners are character, etiquette is just the local script