Sebastian+Thamm

=**__Knigge for beginners (by Sebastian Thamm)__**=

There are different trends and opinions when it comes to the so called rules after Freiherr Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig Knigge. Some say that the rules of Mr. Knigge are as out-dated as his first name; some say the rules are an important part of society. Although I am more in favour of the second opinion, the first one is not completely wrong. Of course there are some rules that had to be updated and adjusted to society’s habits, but the main conclusion stays the same: Getting along with people, showing and getting respect with presenting the right behaviour. I myself have three “Knigge” books: the original one (top picture) and two later versions. Although the newer ones are adapted to newer times; of course it is neither possible nor advisable to hold strictly to all rules mentioned in these books. In the end everybody should decide on his own how to behave. A lot of times it might be better than what is written in the books, but in the same amount of times it could be helpful if they can give you some hints. In my blog I like to give some examples for rules after Knigge:


 * 1. Greeting:**

In general there is clear rule when it comes to greeting and the order in which one greats another: the younger one greats the older one, the man greats the woman, the one with the higher rank greats the one with the lower rank. Every rule on its own seems to be quiet easy, but in combination one has to state that it can depend. If, for example, a highly educated woman with two PhDs, one of them as an award had met the former Chancellor Schröder, she would have greeted him first, although Schröder is a man and had no academic degree at all.


 * 2. Dress:**

In most daily cases women seem to have harder challenges when it comes to dressing in the right manner, but in the very special occasions men have at least the same amount of choices. There are the Frack, the Smoking, the Cut, the Streseman and te typical black or blue suit. It is not generally defined when where one of these dresses, but except for the black or blue suit the occasion has to be very special. Two examples would be a wedding (especially if it is the own one) or a ball.

The Frack (top picture on the left side) is tailored very narrow and has a very high waistband. On the side it got to stripes (“doublestripe”). This is one of differences to the Smoking which got only one stripe on the side. The Frack is short on the front end and goes down to he knees on the back. The jacket is worn open, so that the buttons of the west can be seen.

For the Smoking (top picture, the second one from the left side) you were trousers that have no lapel. The shoes are not corded and without stitches.

While the Frack and the Smoking are typically worn in black or dark blue, the Cut (top picture, second one from the right side) is worn with grey trousers with black stripes. The long ends of the Cut are running oblique from the front to the back. That is the reason why it called “Cut-away”. On the back it again goes down to the knees. This is the only difference to the “Stresemann" (top picture on the right side). It has its name from the former politician Gustav Stresemann who thought that the long end on the back of the suit were too complicated.


 * 3. The Dinner:**

In private lives but especially on business occasions it is a very useful to know not only the basic rules of eating in the right manner. It would take way to much time to elaborate on all rules that exist for the different foods that can be served. Here are some useful rules:

- set of cutlery from outside to inside

- never take to big bites

- no talk with filled mouth

- never talk about inadequate topics

- never put your elbows on the table

- hold your arms near to your body to not disturb anybody

- taste your food before you spice it

- no part of the cutlery touches the table again after you picked it up

- put your napkin on your seat if you leave the table during the dinner

- put your napkin besides your dish if you have finished the meal

That was only a little part of the Knigge-Rules, but I hope you’ve enjoined it and you now look forward to reading some more about it.