to refuse to follow my MIL's ridiculous standards of etiquette?

[daisythedog]

I'm not talking please and thank you here. She expects us (meaning husband, me and 2 young children) to follow conventions that would be appropriate for a Jane Austen novel. Do I stand on ceremony purely to stay on her good side, or do I act as I usually do and risk her thinking that i'm an uncivilized yob? By the way, by all reasonable standards I'm a very polite person, and am extremely respectful of other people's feelings.

Mr Darcy NEVER used a chamber pot!

Incidentally, if men use chamber pots do they stand up to do it? Wouldn't they splash horribly?

Similarly, I don't like couch, suite, chaise longue or three peice but I love the word poof (or poofy) for one of those things that you put your feet on, but I detest it when people pronounce it poofaay.

so where does 'settee' come in the unposh stakes then?

Settee. I feel queasy. Almost as queasy as I did earlier when I read a thread about how to breastfeed a four year old and a newborn in tandem. I came over all peculiar but had no smelling salts to hand.

We had some family friends that used to call the family car "the voiture". It was absolutely hilarious, the male owner of said voiture was lecherous and nauseating. My three sisters and me still laugh about his voiture to this day. When someone gets a new car that they are (perhaps secretly) rather proud of we say "Show us your new voiture then". Oh how we laugh.

OMG

have no wish to induce queasiness!

lol @ passing smelling salts. I overreact of course. Typical of a woman my age, suffering from the vapours.

didn't they suffer from vapours a lot in Jane Austen?

My MIL thinks anything from John Lewis is posh...

Phone John Lewis and ask them if they sell settees?

rofl!

In Jane Austen's day they had "sophas".

what about 'hostess trolleys' weren't they meant to be really posh?

..and mil who thinks John Lewis is posh uses the word 'couch' for sofa.

-She is from Austria if that has a bearing?

Sobernow - Are you sure they had napkins, they sound more like they might have had serviettes?

Eh now then... it's always been sitting room in this family, never lounge or owt else. And my family are working class.

Hate ,hate, hate class system!!!! BUT..... Jilly Cooper's book "Class" is hilarious. She would have "front room" as working class, "lounge" as lower middle or working class with pretentions (really posh people know only hotels have lounges) "sitting or living room" as middle class and "drawing room" as upper middle or upper class. Apparently common people sit on settees and couches and posh people have sofas...with me sofa?
Funny story on subject of cars:- Two friends of mine, one very working class background but made lots of money and tends to be a bit pretentious (though a great laugh hence being my friend) and one from genuinely aristocratic background but you wouldn't know it to look at/talk to her her. Friend one has been banging on about all the money she's recently spent and we are getting a bit bored. Finally says "and we are buying a new estate" Friend 2 (quick as a flash) "Oh really? Where?

Hostess trolleys always make me think of brothels and madams and men asking for 'strange' doings.

MIL changes to go shopping...

ahahahhaah... fiddlemama LMAO.

A new estate in Devon