More Things You Need To Be Told [Paperback]

Lesley Carlin (Author), Honore McDonough Ervin (Author), Etiquette Grrls (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2003

Are good manners relevant in this day and age? More so than ever, with cell phones, body piercings, e-mails, and other 21st-century accessories. Now the authors of Things You Need to Be Told offer more advice-pertinent to today's issues, and filled with both hilarious wit and practical common sense.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lesley Carlin and Honore McDonough Ervin, The Etiquette Grrls, are the creators of the popular website EtiquetteGrrls.com, and Connoisseuses of the Social Graces.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (June 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425190188
• ISBN-13: 978-0425190180
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,725,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What Can I Say?, June 19, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: More Things You Need To Be Told (Paperback)

Here's the deal, "Grrls". Your audience, the young ladies and gents of the world, could care less about your breeding.

Breeding does not a refined person make, nor does wearing a black dress and pearls, urban decay nail polish, or a twinset.

Refinement comes from treating others with dignity, and from knowing the difference between advice and insult. Etiquette comes from respect not only for tradition, but also from a love of others, and a desire to be kind and gentle in your dealings with others.

Etiquette is not about whether or not you follow trends or like Andrew Lloyd Webber. Etiquette is simply treating other people well, something in which these Grrls could use a few lessons.

This book is nothing more than a diatribe against anything the Grrls don't like. These "Grrls" suggest that if one doesn't care for the same books, movies, music, TV, etc, that one is somehow lacking in social grace.

I suggest a different perspective: The Etiquette Grrls hide behind such snobbery under the guise of "Etiquette" when really it is to cover some inferiority complex with which they struggle.

I suggest that you look at this book as a warning: this is exactly what can happen if you let a string of pearls or an overpriced education determine your self-worth.

Leave this on the shelf, then go out into the world, say please, say thank you, bite your tongue in anger, and use your own two hands to help a stranger in some way every day, and you will be more polite and refined than these Grrls could ever hope to be.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mere opinions, NOT a reference manual, January 2, 2005

By 

Julia (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More Things You Need To Be Told (Paperback)

I kind of liked the Grrls first book and awaited their follow-up, hoping it would be less aimed at the post-college crowd.

It's a quick read, that's for sure, and I was about half way through the book when it dawned on me that this is not a researched or referenced piece, it's simply 2 girls sitting around over a bottle of wine dictating what they think it proper! I may drive a Volvo (the Grrls fav. car), but I certainly don't think it's "the only car" to drive. Who cares? The book has a lot of opinions like that... meaningless ones.

But what made me *literally* throw the book in the trash was the chapter on 'tipping'. Under tipping a maid at a hotel they think that you should leave a tip only at the END of your stay in a white envelope. You should NEVER do this. Even the finest hotels will tell you that. How ludicris to think that a hotel manager assigns a maid by GUEST. What if s/he is off on your final day of your stay? Always leave your tip daily to ensure that the proper person receives it.

And re: the postman. They state (and I quote) "they are paid rather well". Please define "rather well" and is this a reason NOT to tip? You should only tip those that are not paid at a level that YOU deem worthy? And I know that my mail has increased at a rate NOT comparible with their salary. My poor postman carried boxes and stacks of magazines and catalogues every day. He deserves a little appreciateion. And to state, "we're told that are not allowed to receive tips" is CRAZY. A simple phone call to their local post office would have given them FACTS and not OPINION for their "book". (they are allowed to receive no more that $20 in cash as a tip)

These Grrls were paid "rather well" by their publishers to deliver a well written and researched reference book to the public and all we got were some narrow, bland, white bread opinions. Yuck.

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you want to learn how to be an East Coast Anglophile, June 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: More Things You Need To Be Told (Paperback)

This book has a lot of fine points and the authors should be commended for trying to bring some civility into modern manners, however I was instantly struck at the dictatorial and arrogant tone of the book, as well as the large amount of non-etiquette content.

This is not an Etiquette Book - it attempts to be a 200-page reference work on Savoir Vivre. It seems to me that the authors are trying to mold their readers into the ubiquitous East-Coast English Lit student. There is quite a large section on `Movies you should see' and `books you should read' etc. This is all well and good if you believe that the authors have it Figured Out in terms of the Great and the Good. A note to the authors: there are more amaizing composers, authors, singers out there than just those that came out of the British Isles or France or New England! Even your favorite - FSF - was from (gasp!) Minnesota.

It always strikes me how surprisingly similar the "East Coast Prep" aesthetic is. And how Boring. After reading this book, I get the impression that an Etiquette Grrl "soiree" would consist of a bunch of women wearing Little Black Dresses, men in Brooks Brother's blazers, drinking Gin and Tonics and listening to Jazz. What would they talk about? The Met and Tennyson, of course. How verrrry interesting and original. Been there. Done That.

For all their self-important opinions about how superior their behavior is, I find their non-etiquette-related advice remarkably limiting. I'm not talking about listening to Cajun music (but why not?), but there is a heck of a lot more out there besides The Met, Shakespeare, and Vintage. Take a chance, Grrls! Break out from your safe worlds and try some non- "Lisa Birnbach approved" activities! I went to Prep School, too - but I Graduated when I was 17.