politeness

[didappointed]

When I was at school we were always told to be polite in both behaviour and speech. Why do most people always mention themselves first like in : me and husband, me and so and so. It sounds a lot nicer if people would say things the other way round like: my husband and I, so and so and I. etc. Don'y they teach these things at school now?

[bookbinder]

I'm new to Answer Bank, so I've only now seen your question. I can tell you that you have a soul mate here. That's the kind of thing that I notice, probably because I like to think that I'm naturally aware of the right way of doing things. I don't know if they teach politeness in schools or not, because I don't have any contact with schools any more (I'm 69). I think that people speak as you have described simply because it's the easy option. You have probably seen a family tree set out on paper, with all the names of related people in boxes, and lines joining them? Well, I think that the fault that you describe is related to one fundamental fault in the nature of some people, and it's called "lack of sense of shame". You could put that in a box, such as I have described, and join it to other boxes. These other boxes would contain words such as, "don't care"; "mind your own business"; "I'll do it my way"; "It's not illegal, is it?"; and so on. I suppose I've gone on a bit, but if you should post a question along the lines of "Why can't the younger generation spell?" you'll probably get a similar answer. We can't do anything about it, we crusaders, but it's nice to know that other people share our views. Best of luck.

[didappointed]

bookbinder - I am glad you agree with me. People of all ages just cannot be bothered to speak properly. It is the easy way out to use slang - what can you expect from the children when even the parents do not know any better. I pity the NEXT generation.