Wed May 21, 2008 17:38 pm meaning of "behind barriers of etiquette" |
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Hi! What if the ruling families prevented/stopped the lower and middle classes from learning the manners? At any rate, I'll be waiting for other members' answers together with you.  |
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Inga I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 208 Location: Minsk, Belarus
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Wed May 21, 2008 19:39 pm meaning of "behind barriers of etiquette" |
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3. The underlined portion means that the ruling families found that they weren't as rich as they used to be, and so they used etiquette to show the difference between themselves and the lower social classes. This was because at that time in history many people of lower classes were becoming richer than the aristocracy. Keep in mind that the economy and society of the time were changing, so that wealth became possible for someone of any social class who was good at business, and not just for the aristocratic classes.
1. "Behind the barriers of etiquette" describes the symbolic "place" to which the upper classes withdrew, not the classes themselves. A middle- or lower-class person couldn't enter the upper classes no matter how much money he had, because he had the wrong manners and speech.
2. It can be rewritten as meaning that, with less and less prosperity, the aristocrats took refuge in etiquette to distinguish themselves from the middle and lower classes, since wealth was not a mark "high birth" anymore. |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 4230 Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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