How to be po­li­te

Po­li­ten­ess

In order to be a po­pu­lar guest, and to make a good im­pres­si­on on his Bri­tish hosts, the for­eign vi­si­tor needs to learn how to apo­lo­gi­se. In the street. On the bus. At the hair­dres­ser’s. In the be­droom. Going out and co­m­ing in. Sorry is one of the most im­portant words in the vo­ca­bu­la­ry of any true Brit. And it’s a word which should be al­ways on the lips of any for­eig­ner mo­ving amongst us. Sorry pre­pa­res a path, ex­cu­ses faults, calms ner­ves and wipes the slate clean so that we can all be jolly to­ge­ther and not get upset. To­ge­ther with ‘Sorry’, the words ‘Plea­se’ and ‘Thank you’ are per­haps the most use­ful in any for­eign vi­si­tor’s le­xi­con. ‘Plea­se’ be­longs to a fa­mi­ly of words that in­clu­des plea­sant, plea­su­re and plea­sing, which is fur­ther proof that it’s nice to be po­li­te. ‘Thank’ comes from the Old Eng­lish thonc , which has the same root as the word think. Thus, being po­li­te is the same as being thought­ful!

Ex­pres­si­on to learn:
After you.
Allow me.

Avoid say­ing
… what you re­al­ly think.

From The How To Be Bri­tish Collec­tion, M. Ford & P. Legon, Brigh­ton 2003

How to be po­li­te: Her­un­ter­la­den [doc] [520 KB]

How to be po­li­te: Her­un­ter­la­den [pdf] [527 KB]