Comments on: Ten Rules for a Real Boy, 1941

By: Tracy M

Tracy M — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:26:07 +0000

I’d frame this one too.

By: Curt A.

Curt A. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:19:20 +0000

HANBOOK FOR BOYS

Boy Scouts of America, 1943 edition:

A Scout is:

Trustworthy
Loyal
Helpful
Friendly
Courteous
Kind
Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean and
Reverent!

As we rattled these off to become a tenderfoot scout, we always put “and” between clean and reverent and emphasized the “reverent!” to remember it was the final law.

The handbook has a wonderful little illustration for each law. The one for courteous shows the scout tipping his hat to a lady.

The Church adopted the Boy Scout movement as the boys’ program in YMMIA in May 1913.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:10:15 +0000

Especially as one’s natural God-given head covering begins to thin (The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!), hats begin looking better and better.

I say, let’s all start wearing hats again. (All us men, that is. Optional for women.)

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:47:46 +0000

I just wish we had a real need to puzzle out the nuances, Bull Moose — if more men realized how good they look in a fedora, I wouldn’t mind whether the hat stayed on or came off in the elevator!

By: Bull Moose

Bull Moose — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:38:39 +0000

Good point, Ardis. If the “indoors” setting is more akin to a public street, commons, or marketplace, then it is acceptable to leave a hat on. Which makes sense, because there typically is no safe place to hang or leave a hat there, and carrying the hat could be burdensome given the fleeting, transient nature of the gentleman’s visit to those places.

Every source I have read indicates that a hat may remain on in an elevator, but must be removed if a lady enters.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:07:29 +0000

Well, except that men didn’t take off their hats in train stations, or hotel lobbies, or department stores, or in office buildings until they got into their individual offices …

By: Bull Moose

Bull Moose — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:57:50 +0000

queno, when hats were part of every gentleman’s attire, the rules were simple: remove your hat when going indoors. No exceptions. Wearing a hat indoors marked you as a boor.

Ladies are under no similar obligation to remove their hats when entering a building.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:47:16 +0000

queuno, hat etiquette doesn’t make logical sense, but it boils down to a man’s taking off his hat indicates respect: Off during the national anthem out of respect to the flag; off at church out of respect to God; off in homes and restaurants out of respect to the host (even if you’re a paying guest at a restaurant, the social fiction is that you’re still a guest); off in the elevator because the social fiction is that you’re all being introduced due to the forced intimacy of the small space; off when you meet a lady or an elderly person or anybody else to whom you want to show respect (just tip it, or touch the brim or bill if you meet in passing).

Leave it on outdoors because it’s protection against the weather (except during the anthem), or in a store or business so impersonal that there’s no implied guest/host relationship.

And of course, to keep things fun, the rules are entirely different for women …

I know that hat etiquette and other “good manners” seem ridiculous, but a lot of people still notice and return respect when you practice them. That’s as true in 2009 as in 1941.

By: queuno

queuno — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:17:11 +0000

I’m not sure I ever got the bit about removing hats. At the dinner table is fine, I guess… Maybe because it’s not a big thing in our culture (except ball caps) that I don’t know what the rules are about removing hats?

By: Coffinberry

Coffinberry — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:16:23 +0000

Oh, and in case the reference might be obscure:

The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio when she brings him to life in response to Gepetto’s wish: “Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy.”