Sorry! The English and Their Manners

Journalist and theater critic Hitchings (The Language Wars) takes up the curious study of proper English behavior in his latest book. Manners matter to the English, yet the Daily Mail reported a study in 2008 “claiming that bad manners were the biggest problem facing [English] society.” 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.” As the author notes, “people have been talking about ‘modern manners’ since the 18th century,” and the discussion continues. Throughout the book, Hitchings offers genuine insight into the paradox of the English character: “The English are polite, and they are also rude. Extreme rudeness and elaborate politeness both stem from feelings of unease; they are different techniques for twisting one’s way out of discomfiture.” 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.” Agent: Peter Straus, Rogers, Coleridge & White. (Nov.)