Overview

A HUMOROUS AND CHARMING INVESTIGATION INTO THE HISTORY OF AND REASONS BEHIND ENGLISH MANNERS Most of us know a bit about what passes for good manners--holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table--and we certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviors come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much? In examining English manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates what it means to be English. Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating, and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas, and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of England's customs and courtesies. Putting some of the most astute observers of humanity--including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys--under the microscope, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of the English character. Hitchings's blend of history, anthropology, and personal journey helps us understand the bizarre and contested cultural baggage that goes along with our understanding of what it means to have good manners.

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9781250056153

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Praise for Sorry! In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book about manners and Englishness, Hitchings describes his own country's culture as a paradox: simultaneously rude and polite . . . Like a good conversation, [ Sorry! ] allows for many fruitful digressions . . . Hitchings is a lively guide through these thickets, pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. --Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [ Sorry! is an] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Part social history, part cultural critique, the book moves humorously from the ancient to the modern with pithy anecdotes and amusing factoids. In the medieval court of Henry II, 'One shouldn't attack an enemy while he is defecating, should avoid sharing secrets with one's wife, and ought to look towards the ceiling when belching.' . . . This seriously amusing and illuminating book goes a long way toward explaining to Anglophobe, Anglophile, and the just plain puzzled why 'the average Briton says Sorry eight times a day.' -- Publishers Weekly Hitchings clearly has fun with his subject(s), both the English themselves and the code of conduct that has evolved since the Middle Ages--when, he notes, someone commodiously counseled that 'one should not attack an enemy while he is at stool.' Evolve is a useful term here, since, as Hitchings notes, manners are not static . . . Hitchings' book . . . [is] a pleasure to read. -- Kirkus Praise for The Language Wars Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary . . . Chock-full of historical and literary references, The Language Wars is a fascinating, eye-opening look at the evolution of the English language. -- The Huffington Post Crisply written, amusing, informa

Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. --The Baltimore Sun [An] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book . . . Hitchings is a lively guide . . . pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. --Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [Henry Hitchings is] a writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence. --The Guardian (London) Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. The Baltimore Sun [An] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book . . . Hitchings is a lively guide . . . pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [Henry Hitchings is] a writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence. The Guardian (London) Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun [An] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book . . . Hitchings is a lively guide . . . pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. --Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [Henry Hitchings is] a writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence. -- The Guardian (London) Praise for Sorry! In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book about manners and Englishness, Hitchings describes his own country's culture as a paradox: simultaneously rude and polite . . . Like a good conversation, [ Sorry! ] allows for many fruitful digressions . . . Hitchings is a lively guide through these thickets, pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. --Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [ Sorry! is an] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Part social history, part cultural critique, the book moves humorously from the ancient to the modern with pithy anecdotes and amusing factoids. In the medieval court of Henry II, 'One shouldn't attack an enemy while he is defecating, should avoid sharing secrets with one's wife, and ought to look towards the ceiling when belching.' . . . This seriously amusing and illuminating book goes a long way toward explaining to Anglophobe, Anglophile, and the just plain puzzled why 'the average Briton says Sorry eight times a day.' -- Publishers Weekly Hitchings clearly has fun with his subject(s), both the English themselves and the code of conduct that has evolved since the Middle Ages--when, he notes, someone commodiously counseled that 'one should not attack an enemy while he is at stool.' Evolve is a useful term here, since, as Hitchings notes, manners are not static . . . Hitchings' book . . . [is] a pleasure to read. -- Kirkus Praise for The Language Wars Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary . . . Chock-full of historical and literary references, The Language Wars is a fascinating, eye-opening look at the evolution of the English language. -- The Huffington Post Crisply written, amusing, informa Praise for Sorry! Part social history, part cultural critique, the book moves humorously from the ancient to the modern with pithy anecdotes and amusing factoids. In the medieval court of Henry II, 'One shouldn't attack an enemy while he is defecating, should avoid sharing secrets with one's wife, and ought to look towards the ceiling when belching.' . . . This seriously amusing and illuminating book goes a long way toward explaining to Anglophobe, Anglophile, and the just plain puzzled why 'the average Briton says Sorry eight times a day.' -- Publishers Weekly Hitchings clearly has fun with his subject(s), both the English themselves and the code of conduct that has evolved since the Middle Ages--when, he notes, someone commodiously counseled that 'one should not attack an enemy while he is at stool.' Evolve is a useful term here, since, as Hitchings notes, manners are not static . . . Hitchings' book . . . [is] a pleasure to read. -- Kirkus Praise for The Language Wars Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary . . . Chock-full of historical and literary references, The Language Wars is a fascinating, eye-opening look at the evolution of the English language. -- The Huffington Post Crisply written, amusing, informative, and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it. -- The Sunday Telegraph (London) Hitchings has prepared a turducken of language-history entrees. Consuming one layer, we discover another, and another. And we feast. -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer Thoroughly charming . . . A rich history of English and the shifting rule books for its correctness...Hitchings cautions readers to take care, not in the way of the 'grumblers, fault-finders, quibblers and mud-slingers, ' but following the example of Orwell, in using language to be clear, to be honest, to connect with each other. -- The Boston G Praise for Sorry! Part social history, part cultural critique, the book moves humorously from the ancient to the modern with pithy anecdotes and amusing factoids. In the medieval court of Henry II, 'One shouldn't attack an enemy while he is defecating, should avoid sharing secrets with one's wife, and ought to look towards the ceiling when belching.' . . . This seriously amusing and illuminating book goes a long way toward explaining to Anglophobe, Anglophile, and the just plain puzzled why 'the average Briton says Sorry eight times a day.' -- Publishers Weekly Praise for The Language Wars Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary . . . Chock-full of historical and literary references, The Language Wars is a fascinating, eye-opening look at the evolution of the English language. -- The Huffington Post Crisply written, amusing, informative, and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it. -- The Sunday Telegraph (London) Hitchings has prepared a turducken of language-history entrees. Consuming one layer, we discover another, and another. And we feast. -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer Thoroughly charming . . . A rich history of English and the shifting rule books for its correctness...Hitchings cautions readers to take care, not in the way of the 'grumblers, fault-finders, quibblers and mud-slingers, ' but following the example of Orwell, in using language to be clear, to be honest, to connect with each other. -- The Boston Globe Hitchings has earned a place at the head table of contemporary linguists. -- The Denver Post Praise for The Language Wars Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary . . . Chock-full of historical and literary references, The Language Wars is a fascinating, eye-opening look at the evolution of the English language. -- The Huffington Post Crisply written, amusing, informative, and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it. -- The Sunday Telegraph (London) Hitchings has prepared a turducken of language-history entrees. Consuming one layer, we discover another, and another. And we feast. -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer Thoroughly charming . . . A rich history of English and the shifting rule books for its correctness...Hitchings cautions readers to take care, not in the way of the 'grumblers, fault-finders, quibblers and mud-slingers, ' but following the example of Orwell, in using language to be clear, to be honest, to connect with each other. -- The Boston Globe Hitchings has earned a place at the head table of contemporary linguists. -- The Denver Post

Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun [An] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book . . . Hitchings is a lively guide . . . pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. --Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [Henry Hitchings is] a writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence. -- The Guardian (London)

Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. -- The Baltimore Sun [An] entertaining and informative survey of English manners past and present. --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post In this terrifically entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful book...Hitchings is a lively guide...pointing out the bizarre while inviting us to take another look at just how our conventional manners, so inevitable to us now, arose from history, circumstance, and luck. --Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe [Henry Hitchings is] a writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence. -- The Guardian (London)

Author Information

Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. He is the author of The Language Wars, The Secret Life of Words, Who's Afraid of Jane Austen?, and Defining the World. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is the theater critic for the London Evening Standard. He lives in Londo

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