Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-25
MODES OF GREETING
RATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AS
SHOWN IN PHRASES
"How Do You DoP" Common English
Salutation, Derived From the
French.


From the London Globe.
1t has often been pointed out. somewhat
fancifully perhaps that the modes of greet
ing current in different countries are some
times nationally or racially characteristic.
The Spaniard or the Italian says: How do
you stand?' which may be referred either
to statelness or laziness. The Frenchman.
careful of department, asks How do you
carry YOURSELF" The Dutchman, fond of
the table salutes you with May you eat
hearty dinner" while the Engl!shman. the
man Of action. says How do you do?'
More markedly Chara cterist.c are some of
the equivalent phrases used among nom u-
ropean peoples. The peasant of southern
China for instance. asks, tenderly, Have
YOU eaten your rice?" and at Cairo they in
quire sympatheticaly, How do you sweat?
How Do You DoP'
Our English How do you do?' is a direct
translation of the medieval French form OF
greeting, Comment lie faites vous?' and
seems to have come into common use to-
ward the end of the seventeenth century.
Curiously enough. it's general acceptance
appears to have conceded with the dying
out of the old mode of greeting ladies,
which was emphatically known as saluting.
and which seems to modern Ideas so extra
ordinarily familiar and intimate-that is, by
kissing. EngliShmen are sometimes inclined
to regard with rather a superior air the
more ELUSIVE methods Of salutation, espe-
cially between men, common on the CONT
nent; but for centuries England was the
land of kisses When a man greeted Wo-
man, whether it was for the first or the
hundreth time he kissed her. Chaucer al
ludes to the custom as existing in his day.
In the 'Somppour's Tale" the Frere, when
the mistress of the house enters the room
where he and her husband are sitting to-
gether-
Aristh up full curstfy,
And hire embraceth in his arms narwe.
And kisseth hire swete, and chirketh as
sparwe
With his lippes
Erasmus on Kisses.
Two hundred years late Erasmus. in one
of his graphic letters from England, wrote
very appreciatively of the custom. IF you
go to any place" he tells his correspondent
with reference to English ladies' you are
received with a kiss by all; If you depart
on a Journey you are dismissed with kiss;
you return. kisses are exchanged They
come to visit you. kiss the first thing;
they leave you, you kiss them all around.
Do they meet you anywhere, kisses in
abundance" 1t was no wonder that Eras
mus told his friend that If he had once ex-
perienced the custom-"on my honor, you
would wish not to reside here for ten years
only, but for life.
This mode of salutation continued in
fashion. more less through the seven
teenth century and into the eighteenth but
occasionally there We're protests. Bunyan
condemned it severely in his Grace
Astounding" and other serious writer's fol-
lowed his lead. Like other fashions, it died
out gradually, first among the quality.
as society people were then called in town,
and later among the country folk.
Bows Win Hearts
In the Spectator for December 5. I'LL
there is an amusing letter from country
gentleman greatly perturbed by the be-
havior of young exquisite from London.
The worthy young squire lived on his own
estate; was hospitable. and, according to
his own account. was ever reckoned among
the ladies of best company in the world"
II never came in public" he continued.
but l saluted them, though In great as
sembies, all around, where it was seen
genteelly. l avoided hampering my spurs
In their petucoats, while l moved among
them; and, on the other side. how prettily
they Courtesied and received me. standing
in proper rows. and advancing as fast as
they saw their elders or their betters dis
patched by me- The good man evidently
kissed every lady in the room. But
change came over his neighbors and friends,
he complains, by reason Of the advent Of a
''courtier or town gentleman" This beau,
fresh from the fashionable circles of Lon
don. instead Of kissing the ladies In the
hearty old English way, simply bowed pro-
foundry to each in turn, and with such
grace and assurance was this done that he
won all hearts and kissing at once went
out of fashion. There is no young gentle
woman" laments the poor squire. within
several miles of this place has been kissed
ever since his first appearance among
us" From all this 1t Is clear that in the
days of Queen Anne the once universal
mode of saluting a lady was no longer fash
ionable in town and was nearing it's end
in the country.
Dignified Courtesies.
The excessively familiar salutation was
succeeded by bows and curtesies of great
dignity and alarming profundity; and these
again became less and less ceremonious
until the whirligig Of time has brought back
the reign of familiarity in another way. in
the somewhat casual and offhand How do
you do?" which, nine times out OF ten, i'm
plies no interest whatever in the person adj
dressed. but Is simply meaningless for
mula of greeting. The still more meaning
less Good morning is of later date than
How do you do?" The earlier forms.
which long preceded the latter phrase, were
"Good morn and Good morrow" which
both date from the fourteenth century. The
latter is no longer in use in actual CONVEX
sation. though poets have weakness for it.
The speckled thrush
Good morrow gave from brake and brush,
says Scott in the Lady of the Lake" and
Longfellow. in ''Evangeine.'' describing the
gathering Of the villagers Of Acadian
Grandpre. says:
MANY a good-morrow and jocund laugh