Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1887 — Don't Say It. [ARTICLE]

Don't Say It.

For one thing, the American, before he began to fashion himself after foreign models, was more ceremonious and polite in manner than he permits himself to be at present. The word “sir,” for example, was used very commonly, as the French use “monsieur;” whereas, now, to say “yes, sir,” and “no, sir,” instead of the curt British “yes” and 4, n0,” is recognized as a badge of social inferiority. Let us all, therefore, beware of appearing too civil, remembering that in these matters a virtue misplaced is no better than a vice. —Boston Past.