Date:  Wed, 22 Oct 1997 20:17:33 -0400
From:  "MELISSA S. SMITH" <mssmit01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MOREHEAD-ST.EDU>
Subject: Re: thank you . . . thank you

On Wed, 22 Oct 1997, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

>   Melissa, do you have any evidence that people used to be more polite
>   and/or formal than they are today? And what's your time frame for
>   "used to"--50 years ago? 500 years ago? 10 years ago? How do you
>   measure politeness: use of title + last name vs. first name? use of
>   pleases and thankyous vs. Hey you and OK? Like some others, I
>   absolutely hate "(God) bless you"; it's not really polite and personal
>   so much as formulaic and empty, IMHO, and I (subtly?) signal my
>   rejection of it by never saying "Thank you" afterwards.
>
Can you honestly say that you haven't noticed a decrease in politeness in
the last 20, 10, even 5 years? People do not speak kindly. They no
longer use words that show their respect for people. For example, your
response seemed kind of impolite to me. I know that you had to have
noticed the change in people today. There is no formality. There is no
polite small talk amongst strangers anymore. There is no one asking
stranger how they are doing that day. How could you not notice these
things. As for a time frame, pick a date and look at the decrease of
pleasant ness from there on.


Melissa