Page 365 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

others. Increasingly, politeness has also come to include
not wearing strong aftershave or cologne to the office or

the theater. Similarly, loud, boneshaking car stereos are

usually enjoyed only by those who play them.

Consideration for others means keeping noise at a

moderate level. While politeness might have once meant

enjoying a conversation with a seatmate on a plane, now
it often means leaving her alone to work on her laptop

computer. The more crowded the world becomes, the

more it is necessary to share space considerately.

Communications technology in the twenty-first century

has brought a whole new set of rules. Texting or talking
on a cell phone in a theater or a classroom is considered

bad manners, as is hanging up on someone’s voicemail

after the beep has sounded. Email requires new rules,

too. Sending email without a subject line or trying to sell

an exercise bike through company email can waste
people’s time and is therefore considered a breach of

etiquette. In email messages or on social networks,

typing in all-capital letters is considered “shouting.” The

technology may be fairly new, but the basic principle of

consideration for others has not changed.

Manners are not dusty relics of a former age. They

change with the world and must be tailored for each new

century. Manners for the twenty-first century, as in