BOOKS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 821, 22 April 1955, Page 12

BOOKS

How to Do and Say in the U.S.A.

ESQUIRE ETIQUETTE, a Guide to Business, Sports, Social Conduct; Angus and Robertson, Australian price 25/-,

(Reviewed by

D.

G.

VERY etiquette book is a source of satisfaction be- ~ .. cause, of course, it is only the other fellow who. won’t know how to wear, even if he can afford them, the clothes and flowers perexquisite for each demanding occasion. America need no longer be thought of as a land of civilised barbarians, for here is Esquire’s very own Etiquette. Esquire, whose eyes on sticks have heretofore hinted so many unspoken salacities, has forsaken his gentlemanly raffishness and gone into trade; this is a very serious consideration of etiquette and "guestiquette." And the old gentleman does it without batting an eyelid: Even if you want them only as a cover, you need smooth business manners. It is NEVER correct to call anyone in ’ "dearie," "darling," "honey," "baby," "toots’"Take care not to startle others’ horses by el to your own horse. . . Width cuffless trousers-by current narTow. standards, 181, inches at bottom. Always worn with braces. Accompanying me on many social Occasions is a British book called Eti-

quette for Men, from whose _ genteel pages I have been wont to admonish my host or hostess when they have committed more than the initial social solecism of inviting me to their home. I shall replace it with Esquire Etiquette, brighter in the cover and deadly thorough. (But the British book says of Eating Oranges: "Oranges are very difficult to manipulate. . . However careful

you may be, there is danger that someone will receive a little of the juice, and really the fruit is best avoided at a public dinner," while Esquire ignores the subject. Does this mean non-recogni-tion in England and acute embarrassment in the U.N.?) It is heartening to note there is a staunch international accord on so many other points: neither book wishes me to bare the head to a public lift, and both prefer I should ride to the dogs (or is it hunting-hounds?) not wearing: a pyjama jacket with my jodhpurs. Esquire is too big for other than a poacher’s pocket, but a quick flip through the index (for everything except oranges) will save many a social day. If everyone reads it we shall all be impeccable puppets with much to do and nothing to say. But everyone won’t read it. Among those who do, ‘gentlemen of irreproachable memory need never again fear to look a head waiter fair in the napkin.