Customer Reviews

The Everything Etiquette Book; Mind your manners, with family and friends, announcements and invitations, business, travel, the Internet and every other awkward situation.

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Judging by this book the "Everything" series is similar to the "For Dummies" and "Idiot's Guide" books, but with more text and fewer zippy graphics. This is a good, up-do-date etiquette book that will serve most people's needs. I especially appreciated the tipping guides and the sidebar on how to pronounce French menu terms. I could have done without the tongue-in-cheek Hollywood etiquette rules. Sometimes the book's sensitivity to feelings goes too far, as in this hemming-and-hawing account of an 40-year-old's birthday party: "One should expect . . . joke gifts of Geritol, Depends, Grecian Formula and prune juice. However, many people consider age references to be in poor taste. This is always a judgement call based upon the people involved. . . In general, cards that call attention to a person's age--or are otherwise vulgar or cruel--demean the giver as well as the getter." So do we have a sarcastic party or what?

Still, for the money this is a good book. Most people don't need an etiquette guide that runs to hundreds of pages (though if they do, the Miss Manners series is worth it for the humor alone). I do wish the book had given author Nat Segaloff's credentials, which this type of guide usually does.

I was looking for an etiquette book to reference for ongoing events and occasions in my life. After sorting through so many on amazon, I finally decided to purchase, The Everything Etiquette Book... what a HUGE mistake! This book was written by someone who does not fully comprehend the English language or this book was translated into English from another language. Do not waste your time. It is very rushed and poorly written (and/or translated). I will be returning EVERYTHING (no pun intended)!