Wait till we hit "Gracious Living without Servants"

Pick up the nearest book to you.
Turn to page 45.
The first sentence describes your sex life in 2012.

Dr. and Mrs. Grant Kingsley
announce that the marriage of their daughter
Penelope
to
Mr. George Frank Carpenter
has been postponed from
Friday, the ninth of June
until
Friday, the eighth of September
at noon
St. Mary's Church
San Francisco

Well. That certainly portends drama this year.

Serves me right for re-reading one of my favorite works of fantasy, Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Guide to Etiquette: A Guide to Gracious Living, copyright 1954.

Nestled amidst the rustling taffeta, crisp linen, and engraved calling cards is such entrenched racism, classism, and sexism that it makes you long for the enlightened era depicted in Mad Men. One of my favorites is in Part Four: Home Entertaining, under a section captioned "Dinner with One Maid":

Pretention is so very uncomfortable.

Sing it, Amy Vanderbilt, sing it.