It's just rules, like etiquette, only partially based on logic of some sort and largely based on tradition.
*Ahem* As a big fan of the etiquette, I feel a need to speak up here. :) REAL etiquette is based on a very simple and clean logic - behave in a way that makes people around you feel more comfortable. Which means that anything labelled as "etiquette" that is about making people feel incorrect and small and gauche is not, in fact, REAL etiquette, but just snobbiness run amok and mislabelled. And that's the stuff that is only partially based on logic and largely based on tradition.
I think that's not a very good definition, because it's too general. Etiquette is specifically about making people feel more comfortable by not violating social norms at them. That's exactly what uniforall was doing - she was obeying the net social norm of calling people nazis, so that everybody would feel comfortable and at home.
The wikipedia article suggests that even in one society people have many conflicting ideas of what etiquette is, apparently including how to spell it. ("ettiquete"? nice editing! Is that what ettins do? I bet they have the most complicated table manners ever!)
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mcroft
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Date: 2006-06-26 08:48 pm (UTC)*Ahem* As a big fan of the etiquette, I feel a need to speak up here. :) REAL etiquette is based on a very simple and clean logic - behave in a way that makes people around you feel more comfortable. Which means that anything labelled as "etiquette" that is about making people feel incorrect and small and gauche is not, in fact, REAL etiquette, but just snobbiness run amok and mislabelled. And that's the stuff that is only partially based on logic and largely based on tradition.
Herein endeth the lesson. :)
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Date: 2006-06-26 11:26 pm (UTC)The wikipedia article suggests that even in one society people have many conflicting ideas of what etiquette is, apparently including how to spell it. ("ettiquete"? nice editing! Is that what ettins do? I bet they have the most complicated table manners ever!)