"Don't you know the meaning of propriety?"

Propriety, noun: Conformity to established standards of behavior or manners, suitability, rightness or justice, see "etiquette."



Gold star
if you can
identify
the reference.






Homework assignment
if you can't:


And that's a really good homework assignment
for a Friday.
(You can thank me later.)


Fortunately, I DO know the meaning of propriety, thanks to another treasure from Junk Bonanza!

While wandering the aisles, my friend Flannery and I happened upon a booth that was so full of wordy goodness, we could hardly believe our eyes.


Vintage word-related materials of all kinds!
Flash cards!
Old fortunes!
And these incredibly swell vocabulary cards:



I picked up a nice stack of them, because in my line of work you never know what you might need later.


And
it's
good
to
be
prepared.





I read a newspaper article last week that made me think. It was about how people used to be much more polite and well-mannered back when everybody smoked.



You would offer the person you were with (stranger or not) a cigarette. They would either politely decline, or accept the cigarette. Then you would offer to light it for them.


When's the last time you offered a stranger
on the subway one of your candy bars?

And further offered to remove the wrapper for them?


That's one of the reasons I love my old magazines. They were produced during a time when everyone knew the meaning of propriety.



Sure, there were problems. Plenty of them.

We were just much better at hiding the problems.


Which some days I think wasn't all bad.