Overview

Most of us know a bit about what passes for good manners - holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table. We certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviours come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much to us? In examining our manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates our notions of Englishness. 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 our country's customs and courtesies. Putting under the microscope some of our most astute observers of humanity, including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of the English character. Hitchings' blend of history, anthropology and personal journey helps us understand our bizarre and contested cultural baggage - and ourselves.

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9781848546677

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Reviews

'A writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence, who writes works of scholarship masquerading as popular narrative non-fiction ... the man is something else' -- Guardian 'An excellent history, just don't read it at the dinner table ... this insightful book will give you pause the next time you wipe your nose on the duvet or - social death! - top up your host's glass at a New Year's Eve party' -- The Times 'Amusing and enlightening ... he is particularly insightful in depicting the evolutionary shift manners have taken since they were first codified on paper in the Middle Ages' -- Financial Times '[Hitchings] is a lovely writer, full of interesting ideas and neat turns of phrase' -- Daily Mail 'Hitchings has made a bold, entertaining and often imaginative, assault on a fundamentally impossible subject' -- Observer 'Manners is a fascinating subject, and Hitchings handles it with all his customary wit, knowledge and elegance' -- Mail on Sunday 'Highly entertaining and absorbing book' -- Daily Telegraph 'Understated elegance ... it is itself an impeccably well-mannered and deeply English product' -- The Spectator 'Witty and sharp ... full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes ... elegantly written' -- Sunday Times 'A scholarly study of English manners' -- Country Life 'Illuminating and entertaining' -- Sunday Telegraph 'Hitching's shares provocative opinions ... he exhibits an appetite for confounding myths about social mores' -- Metro 'Endlessly entertaining' -- Literary Review 'Diverting new book' -- Lady An elegant and erudite book ... Hitchings has an encyclopaedic mind, but like the well-mannered Englishman he is, wears his learning lightly -- Independent Full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes -- Sunday Times Very well-mannered and authoritative survey of British behaviour -- Sunday Telegraph What better book for a foreign beach than an exploration of our enduring stereotypes. This history of faux pas and foibles is ideal for broadcasting entertaining 'Did-you-knows?' -- Mail on Sunday He's terrific. He's struck the perfect balance between hard academic insight and sheer readability - and achieves both -- Evening Standard Scholarly without being heavy, and rich with acute anecdotes and diversions into social history ... Pacy and enthusiastic, Hitchings's book entertains and enlightens -- Daily Telegraph The erudite and witty Henry Hitchings is the perfect guide through the minefield of social conventions we call manners -- Mail on Sunday

Praise for THE LANGUAGE WARS -- ** '[Hitchings] writes beautiful prose, witty and succinct. His book is full of complex ideas expressed with crystal clarity ... The range of his knowledge and curiosity is remarkable ... Every paragraph contains a fascinating detail about the English language ... I recommend that you rush out to immediately buy it, or to buy it immediately, whichever you prefer.' -- Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, Five Star Review 20110130 'This richly detailed and often delightfully combative book is a historical guide to the sometimes splenetic battles that have been fought over [English] down the centuries ... a pleasure to read.' -- Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 20110130 'Crisply written, amusing, informative and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it.' -- Charles Moore, The Telegraph 20110130 'Hitchings' exemplary researches and disinterested, perceptive and often witty explications, make it clear that one cannot glibly dismiss these struggles over what makes English proper ... Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable and gratifyingly informative book.' -- Financial Times 20110130 'The Language Wars asks us to think beyond tradition, habit and deference, and to consider what we want from our words. It is a very intelligent and polite call to arms, but a call to arms nonetheless' -- Observer 20110130 'The Language Wars takes the reader on a Cook's tour of complaints about English past and present ...' -- Deborah Cameron, Guardian 20110130 'It is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right cliche) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists' foolish nostrums.' -- Daily Telegraph 20110130 'An extraordinary amount of reading has clearly gone in to the Language Wars' -- Guardian 20110130

'A writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence, who writes works of scholarship masquerading as popular narrative non-fiction ... the man is something else' -- Guardian 20130116 'An excellent history, just don't read it at the dinner table ... this insightful book will give you pause the next time you wipe your nose on the duvet or - social death! - top up your host's glass at a New Year's Eve party' -- The Times 20130116 'Amusing and enlightening ... he is particularly insightful in depicting the evolutionary shift manners have taken since they were first codified on paper in the Middle Ages' -- Financial Times 20130116 '[Hitchings] is a lovely writer, full of interesting ideas and neat turns of phrase' -- Daily Mail 20130116 'Hitchings has made a bold, entertaining and often imaginative, assault on a fundamentally impossible subject' -- Observer 20130127 'Manners is a fascinating subject, and Hitchings handles it with all his customary wit, knowledge and elegance' -- Mail on Sunday 20130127 'Highly entertaining and absorbing book' -- Daily Telegraph 20130127 'Understated elegance ... it is itself an impeccably well-mannered and deeply English product' -- The Spectator 20130127 'Witty and sharp ... full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes ... elegantly written' -- Sunday Times 20130107 'Hitching's shares provocative opinions ... he exhibits an appetite for confounding myths about social mores' -- Metro 20130107 Praise for THE LANGUAGE WARS -- ** 20130107 '[Hitchings] writes beautiful prose, witty and succinct. His book is full of complex ideas expressed with crystal clarity ... The range of his knowledge and curiosity is remarkable ... Every paragraph contains a fascinating detail about the English language ... I recommend that you rush out to immediately buy it, or to buy it immediately, whichever you prefer.' -- Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, Five Star Review 20110130 'This richly detailed and often delightfully combative book is a historical guide to the sometimes splenetic battles that have been fought over [English] down the centuries ... a pleasure to read.' -- Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 20110130 'Crisply written, amusing, informative and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it.' -- Charles Moore, Telegraph 20110130 'Hitchings' exemplary researches and disinterested, perceptive and often witty explications, make it clear that one cannot glibly dismiss these struggles over what makes English proper ... Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable and gratifyingly informative book.' -- Financial Times 20110130 'The Language Wars asks us to think beyond tradition, habit and deference, and to consider what we want from our words. It is a very intelligent and polite call to arms, but a call to arms nonetheless' -- Observer 20110130 'The Language Wars takes the reader on a Cook's tour of complaints about English past and present ...' -- Deborah Cameron, Guardian 20110130 'It is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right cliche) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists' foolish nostrums.' -- Daily Telegraph 20110130 'An extraordinary amount of reading has clearly gone in to the Language Wars' -- Guardian 20110130

'A writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence, who writes works of scholarship masquerading as popular narrative non-fiction ... the man is something else' -- Guardian 20130116 'An excellent history, just don't read it at the dinner table ... this insightful book will give you pause the next time you wipe your nose on the duvet or - social death! - top up your host's glass at a New Year's Eve party' -- The Times 20130116 'Amusing and enlightening ... he is particularly insightful in depicting the evolutionary shift manners have taken since they were first codified on paper in the Middle Ages' -- Financial Times 20130116 '[Hitchings] is a lovely writer, full of interesting ideas and neat turns of phrase' -- Daily Mail 20130116 'Hitchings has made a bold, entertaining and often imaginative, assault on a fundamentally impossible subject' -- Observer 20130127 'Manners is a fascinating subject, and Hitchings handles it with all his customary wit, knowledge and elegance' -- Mail on Sunday 20130127 'Highly entertaining and absorbing book' -- Daily Telegraph 20130127 'Understated elegance ... it is itself an impeccably well-mannered and deeply English product' -- The Spectator 20130127 'Witty and sharp ... full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes ... elegantly written' -- Sunday Times 20130107 'Hitching's shares provocative opinions ... he exhibits an appetite for confounding myths about social mores' -- Metro 20130107 'Endlessly entertaining' -- Literary Review 20130107 'Diverting new book' -- Lady 20130107 Praise for THE LANGUAGE WARS -- ** 20130107 '[Hitchings] writes beautiful prose, witty and succinct. His book is full of complex ideas expressed with crystal clarity ... The range of his knowledge and curiosity is remarkable ... Every paragraph contains a fascinating detail about the English language ... I recommend that you rush out to immediately buy it, or to buy it immediately, whichever you prefer.' -- Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, Five Star Review 20110130 'This richly detailed and often delightfully combative book is a historical guide to the sometimes splenetic battles that have been fought over [English] down the centuries ... a pleasure to read.' -- Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 20110130 'Crisply written, amusing, informative and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it.' -- Charles Moore, Telegraph 20110130 'Hitchings' exemplary researches and disinterested, perceptive and often witty explications, make it clear that one cannot glibly dismiss these struggles over what makes English proper ... Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable and gratifyingly informative book.' -- Financial Times 20110130 'The Language Wars asks us to think beyond tradition, habit and deference, and to consider what we want from our words. It is a very intelligent and polite call to arms, but a call to arms nonetheless' -- Observer 20110130 'The Language Wars takes the reader on a Cook's tour of complaints about English past and present ...' -- Deborah Cameron, Guardian 20110130 'It is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right cliche) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists' foolish nostrums.' -- Daily Telegraph 20110130 'An extraordinary amount of reading has clearly gone in to the Language Wars' -- Guardian 20110130

'A writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence, who writes works of scholarship masquerading as popular narrative non-fiction ... the man is something else' -- Guardian 20130116 'An excellent history, just don't read it at the dinner table ... this insightful book will give you pause the next time you wipe your nose on the duvet or - social death! - top up your host's glass at a New Year's Eve party' -- The Times 20130116 '[Hitchings] is a lovely writer, full of interesting ideas and neat turns of phrase' -- Daily Mail 20130116 'Highly entertaining and absorbing book' -- Daily Telegraph 20130116 'Understated elegance ... it is itself an impeccably well-mannered and deeply English product' -- The Spectator 20130116 'Witty and sharp ... full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes ... elegantly written' -- Sunday Times 20130107 Praise for THE LANGUAGE WARS -- ** 20130107 '[Hitchings] writes beautiful prose, witty and succinct. His book is full of complex ideas expressed with crystal clarity ... The range of his knowledge and curiosity is remarkable ... Every paragraph contains a fascinating detail about the English language ... I recommend that you rush out to immediately buy it, or to buy it immediately, whichever you prefer.' -- Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, Five Star Review 20110130 'This richly detailed and often delightfully combative book is a historical guide to the sometimes splenetic battles that have been fought over [English] down the centuries ... a pleasure to read.' -- Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 20110130 'Crisply written, amusing, informative and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it.' -- Charles Moore, Telegraph 20110130 'Hitchings' exemplary researches and disinterested, perceptive and often witty explications, make it clear that one cannot glibly dismiss these struggles over what makes English proper ... Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable and gratifyingly informative book.' -- Financial Times 20110130 'The Language Wars asks us to think beyond tradition, habit and deference, and to consider what we want from our words. It is a very intelligent and polite call to arms, but a call to arms nonetheless' -- Observer 20110130 'The Language Wars takes the reader on a Cook's tour of complaints about English past and present ...' -- Deborah Cameron, Guardian 20110130 'It is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right cliche) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists' foolish nostrums.' -- Daily Telegraph 20110130 'An extraordinary amount of reading has clearly gone in to the Language Wars' -- Guardian 20110130

Author Information

Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is theatre critic for the Evening Standard.

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