Don't

By Oliver Bell Bunce

Subjects: English language, Errors of usage, Etiquette

Description: This is Henry Hitching's description from Five Best in the WSJ... ( http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303947904579336581013004714-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwMTEwNDEyWj ) 5. This curious volume, subtitled "A Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties More or Less Prevalent in Conduct and Speech," is the one book on my list that is directly concerned with manners. I came across it while researching a history of arguments about English usage ("The Language Wars") and delighted in Bunce's mixture of tetchy pedantry and self-awareness. Of the man himself I know little: He was an American, a publisher and a journalist who also dabbled in writing plays—one of them performed specifically for the benefit of the Shirt Sewers' Union. Only "Don't," which appeared in 1883, made much of an impression on the world. Bunce's character is discernible on every page. Some of the guidance is sensible, if perhaps unnecessary—in a crowd, one shouldn't carry a cane horizontally. Some is vague: "Don't be over-civil." Some is hard to comply with: "Don't eat onions or garlic, unless you are dining alone and intend to remain alone some hours thereafter." And some is just plain weird: "Don't play the concertina to excess." Bunce's mission to stamp out mistakes and improprieties is, of course, a failure. Telling people what not to do is a surefire way of getting them to do it. But "Don't" is one of those rare books that charm the reader by accident.