books 2008: Talk to the Hand, by Lynne Truss

[supercheesegirl]

Full title: Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door. Truss wrote Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which I loved, and which is really a very well thought out and well researched rant about how people should use correct punctuation and how the lack of correct punctuation both

Comments

[myras_girls]

That's a great list and a great reminder to be polite and courteous. Thank you!

I think that people are rude not because they don't understand the importance of being polite so much as many people in our current society come from a "me" point of view so much of the time. When they are affected negatively, even if it is only their perception of being negatively affected, they lash out at others in defense of themselves.

But sometimes our society takes it too far. We are over-eager to blame others for whatever dissatisfaction we feel in our lives. The down side to this is that nothing will ever get better if we expect that other people have to start acting differently for us to be happy.

The only change we can truly affect and control is changing ourselves, and like this list, we can choose to be polite for many good reasons and find in doing so we are happier without and within!

However, nothing has really replaced those old rules--we don't have a new set of social values to act on. Everybody has their own set of rules they think

[supercheesegirl]

Dude, you should totally read this book. You would like it a lot, I think!

[tisana]

Thanks for the recommendation, I might check it out.

I do think we have rudeness issues, but I'm also glad that we're not Victorian England, and think that some kinds of obligation to be polite are actually harmful ("She didn't want to tell him 'no' because then he'd call her a rude bitch" kind of thing).

And the "Everyone has different rules that they're convinced are right"...so true. And so few people think of that.

[supercheesegirl]

It's definitely worth a read. She (obviously) goes a lot more into detail on the sorts of manners we've lost and the good and bad things about that old system. In general, I think Truss is the kind of author that makes me say, "That's so true, and so few people think of that!" :)

[moonshadow]

What a great review. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know Truss had written another book, and I will definitely be checking that out.

[supercheesegirl]

Excellent! Glad to be of service!

[woodwardiocom]

While I agree wholeheartedly that more politeness in the world would be a good thing, I don't see how "they have achieved status in the wider world" and "they have a menial job" (along with a couple of the others) can possibly be seen as "having nothing to do with class".

[supercheesegirl]

Well, I would be nice to a person with a menial job because it's hard work and I'm glad I don't have to do it. I am picturing for example the garbage man. He does very necessary work that I really, really don't want to do, and I'm sure he doesn't get paid enough for it, so I would always be nice to him. I am also nice to the lady who cleans the office restroom. I'm glad I don't have to do that either. I don't see it as a class thing