Things You Need to Be Told (Paperback)

by The Etiquette Grrls (Author), Lesley Carlin (Author), Honore McDonough Ervin (Author) "Just because you are in your own home is no reason to neglect Good Manners and become a noisy, inconsiderate, slothful, unhygienic, and Rude Creature..." (more)
Key Phrases: palmtop computers, Etiquette Grrls, Prep School, Urban Decay (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"The Etiquette Grrls are very funny, very wise, and very in your face. It's easier to learn manners when you're laughing rather than crying." (Letitia Baldrige)

It is indeed a Tacky, Rude World, which we inhabit. The Etiquette Grrls have decided that things are simply getting out of hand, and they have Taken It Upon Themselves to step in with a helpful guide to navigate the Etiquette Quandaries in your day-to-day life. They dish up advice on cohabitation, letter-writing, telephoning, traveling, grooming, drinking, dining, dating, and marriage and, it would be Terribly Rude of you not to pay attention.

Who are they, you ask, to be writing such a book? The Etiquette Grrls are graduates of New England Preparatory Schools and Prestigious Colleges; they are throwers of Great Parties; they can hold their liquor; their expertise on fashion and makeupand-especially Subversive Nail Polish colors-knows no bounds; they wear Doc Martens with their cashmere twin sets; and, most important, they know what they're talking about.

The Etiquette Grrls' advice has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, and Business Week Online. Their own website, EtiquetteGrrls.com-cited as one of the best on the Web by excite.com, best-of-the-web.net, projectcool.com, and college newspapers throughout the country-provides monthly features and weekly responses to the Etiquette Quandaries of their loyal readers.

About the Author
Lesley Carlin & Honore McDonough Ervin are The Etiquette Grrls, creators of the interactive website which allows readers to ask and answer questions on any subject from martinis to cell phones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042518370X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425183700
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #461,349 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

141 of 157 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Things The Etiquette Grrls Need to Be Told, February 4, 2002

By	deety "book nerd" (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

First of all, it is Very Tiresome to have things Randomly Capitalized. It may be Slightly Charming in the context of a Short Article, but in a Terribly Long Book it is distracting and Difficult To Read. Secondly, using Quaint Expressions is also Mildly Cute for awhile, but after they use the Childish Adjective "wee" for the twentieth time, it gets old as well. Dear Readers, are we really to think that The Etiquette Grrls speak this way in their Daily Lives? I doubt it. The Affected Tone of this book makes it Difficult To Relate To.

Another thing that makes it hard to relate to the Etiquette Grrls is their Attitudes. The only Actual Etiquette in this book involves things like introducing people to Each Other, and not talking on your cell 'phone (yes, they Do Indeed write it 'phone) During A Movie. The rest of the book is full of things like their fashion advice--which is not All That Good. Be warned, Dear Reader, that The Etiquette Grrls think the height of slightly edgy fashion is wearing Doc Martens and Urban Decay nail color. Also interesting is the Dating Advice, in which you learn that girls should not Ask Boys For a Date, and the best way to Manage Your Boyfriend is with a system of punishments based on the Demerit Systems of their New England Boarding Schools. Sadly, I am Not Kidding.

They also sound Quite A Bit Snobby, managing to offend my Southern Sensibilities by claiming that "Grits is not a food." They make fun of clothing, music choices, and events which are Not To Their Taste. Which seems to me to be The Height of Rudeness. I, like the Etiquette Grrls, do not enjoy NASCAR, but I would never suggest that it is not a "proper" place for anyone to be.

So the advice of The Etiquette Grrls will only Be Of Great Interest to other well-bred women who are products of New England boarding schools, and I'd imagine those "grrls" need no help from The Etiquette Grrls as they would have learned All Of These Things Already.

97 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars things you need to be told in order to be...pretentious, February 13, 2003

By	"intello_2000" (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews

While some passages in this book appealed to me, I did find their style of writing and their opinion to be nothing but pretentious.
I was myself raised in Paris till my late teens, and have travelled quite a deal around the world and mastered several languages, including Latin and Classical Greek. However, I consider it outmost pretention and rudeness to drop in foreign words in my English conversation in order to sound "sophisticated".
Also, what is up with all the capitalized words? Improper use of grammar is tacky.
As far as choosing which cocktail, I consider it ridiculous to judge who you are by what your taste buds crave for at the moment. There are times that I enjoy a blue Hawaiian, and others when I could get by with a French 75. It all depends on MY mood, not some other person's opinion.
Real sophistication and class is within. People who look for material things to seek validation are extremely insecure, and that is the outmost lack of style.

48 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, but not an etiquette guide, July 23, 2002

By A Customer

I'm torn. This is a cute read if you are willing to take the authors' affectations as tongue-in-cheek. The Grrls are witty and I cannot fault their actual etiquette advice.

However, the book is loaded with instructions on imitating their lifestyle, disguised as rules of etiquette. For example, they include sections on choosing a neighborhood bar, what constitutes a real martini, and their own category of dress code called "See You In Hell." These sections made me laugh out loud, but are not even loosely issues of etiquette. I did not sense an underlying desire to show respect for others, which is the basis of etiquette. Rather, it seemed that the Grrls use manners to try to prove their personal superiority and "good breeding."

Read the book and enjoy its clever criticism of our "tacky, rude world." Don't, however, take it very seriously or try to follow its advice, or you will risk seeming like a snob.