Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation
Encyclopedia
Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation is the name of a list best known as a school writing exercise of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

, who became the first president
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 of the United States of America. Most of the rules have been traced to a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...

 manual, dating from the late 16th Century.

They include:

*1st Every action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.

*2d When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.

*3d Shew Nothing to your Freind that may affright him.

*4th In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.

Note: What we would today consider spelling errors such as freind or shew are from the original papers. Some words and sentence constructs have also become archaic.

The complete list of 110 such rules may be found here.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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