Things you were told weren't ladylike

[thinkofablinkingnamewoman]

A friend mentioned yesterday that her DH hates her smoking while walking - he says it makes her look like a tart. It reminded me of things my DM (mainly, DF occasionally) told me weren't ladylike when I was growing up. They were:
Smoking outside (clearly some things don't change)
Eating in the street (though for some reason chip shop chips were ok)
Sitting with my legs apart more than about an inch. This seemed to be quite a precise measurement
Talking about football to people I didn't know, even though my DF used to take me. Bizarrely cricket talk was ok.
Did you all have similar?

All of the above, plus:

Wearing black apart from at funerals (considered attention seeking )
Mowing the lawn, reaching up high for things above your head (e.g. changing a lightbulb) or driving.
Going into a pub alone my mum would hardly ever go into a pub at all).
Eating something messy like a burger.
Breaking a sweat

Being apart from your husband. DH often works away from home and this is met with the same disapproval as if we'd got divorced.
Going out without coat, hat and gloves in winter.

Chewing gum
Running
Drinking pints
Going into a pub by yourself
Wearing DMs
Wearing glasses.
Arguing.

Lots more. Didn't take.

We were told that when a woman whistled, "Our Lady" i.e. the Virgin Mary, cried.

I was once called "trollopy" for having the belt of my coat undone, even though the buttons were closed.

My mother and her sisters had a Byzantinely complicated social code, which I think was their way of differentiating themselves from other people, at a time when everyone around them lived in an equal state of poverty. They considered themselves the "respectable poor."

Chewing gum
Swearing
Drinking pints
Smoking
Bending over (rather than crouching)
Tattoos
Burping/farting

One of the lads and always will be :-D sorry mum

Oh God - my mothers list ..... which I broadly adhere to.

No smoking in public
No eating whilst standing or on the move
No swearing in public
No swigging from bottles or cans
No chewing gum

Pint glasses? oh no just no
Skirts above the knee? never.
No more than an inch of cleevage

Yup - ankle chains are a prostitutes marker!
Tattoos belong to the criminal underclass

Phoning a boy .... He had to phone first! I rebelled against this as my mother pursed her lips in horror!

Drinking pints.
Chatting with men.
Eating in the street.
Cleavage.
My hobby (heritage railways).
Shouting.
Not wearing hat and gloves in church.
Running.

Oh yes - never phone a bloke

Black - only ever ware it at funerals
Black tights are a no-no as well, tights should always be opaque
I never go into a pub alone or first nor do I go to the bar

my dad once told me quite proudly probably best to not let on that I knew more about golf football and rugby than most men if i wanted a bf (i was about 13) but used to very proudly after a pint have huge chats with me and his friends about sports and like to take the mick out of them when i argued rightly about football etc with them. I was the youngest by 13 years and only girl. So he raised me the same as his sons including drinking pints and going to the match, much to my mothers dismay I was never a pretty in pink lady :)

I have an 'O' one - Opinions - as in strong Opinions! It is not ladylike for a woman to have strong opinions - though funny enough I have only felt this when I have been strongly disagreeing with a man!

oh & I was called a GeezerBird on a date once because not only did I know what offside ment but I knew the rules of cricket!!!!!!!

Jeans
Smoking
Farting
Burping
Swearing
Sniffing
Being loud
Drinking
Whistling

Ah they were the good old days.

What a load of fucking bollocks!!

Ladylike my arse!!

Lots are these are just ill mannered because they make other people feel uncomfortable but applicable to both genders - eating. smoking, drinking in the street for example, yawning without hands. burping farting - they're 'time and place' things that you would avoid but absolutely sod all to do with being a woman (ladylike - pah!).

Quite honestly, if I came out with this drivel to DD I'd be ashamed. As long as people are healthy and happy and their behaviour does not impinge on anyone else they can do as they jolly well please.

It sounds as though you all have my MIL as a mum - pity my poor DH who would go by many of these things if I let him (and insists on pardon and uses 'serviette' - says it all really!!)

I don't think I have any new ones! So will just add mine to swell the numbers:
Chewing gum at all
Eating in the street
Open-mouthed or noisy eating/chewing/swallowing
Showing your slip (in the days when they were regularly worn)
Nail polish on the toenails
Any ornamentation on the legs, actually (ankle chains, toe rings etc.)
Shouting
Whistling (from my gran: "A whistling woman and a cackling hen are use neither to God nor men" - cheers, Gran)
Loud laughter
Loud sneezing
Spitting
Swearing
Burping
Farting
Drinking pints (I got VERY cross when a pub refused to serve me my pint!); and in fact being in a pub at all
Sitting legs akimbo
Wearing jeans, or in fact any trousers (Dad)
Wearing trainers as shoes, not for sport
Sweating
Having short hair (I never did this anyway but I know it was An Issue)
Wearing too much make up - eyeliner came under this heading.

I think that's it...

smoking outside
"judging" a man - ie being a driving instructor or a judging panel !!!

on a slightly similar note, when I told my Dad that I was getting divorced he said "it's probably because you didn't change your name" He didn't mention my (very ex) husband's adultery....

I was told not to answer all the questions in class and make the boys feel stupid...

aga the past ( in my case, the very distant past) is another country. Of course most of them are bollox, but the point is to show that life has changed. My gm was a Victorian ffs, so can you imagine what she told dm?Can't think that many of us here would even use the word lady.

I was encouraged to never wear a black bra or brush my hair in public as they were viewed as unladylike. I was howver taught how to exit a car with my legs together how to eat fruit with a knife and fork and the correct way to eat caviar. /emo/te/1.gif

Drinking a pint. I kind of adhere to this, as I don't like beer/ale/lager...I do drinks pints of diet coke if offered though

Walking and eating is another one.

Sitting with legs apart. Though, where skirts are concerned there is valid reason to sit with ones legs closed

riding a bike
driving a go-cart
going on a motorbike
climbing

Anything remotely fun

• Tampons (who the fuck they are for then I have no idea)

• Chewing gum (kinda agree it's gross for all actually not specifically ladies)

• Large plates at tea (because it encourages one to be a glutton and potential husbands would be put off - WTAF?! surely you should encourage me to fill my mouth with cake because me talking is DEFINITELY GOING TO PUT THEM OFF

• Talking about intimate relations with ANYONE. (vague references are permitted to one's gynaecologist in extremis

• Proper making-you-sweat exercise - a gentle stroll is fine, kickboxing and spin class are a bit common apparently. Oh and muscles on women are an abomination (needless to say I've now got lots).

• Shiny fabrics which are not silk (my mothers face when I strolled downstairs to meet my boyfriend in a PVC catsuit was to DIE FOR ).

Anklets.

My DF was disgusted by them (still is) and told me in no uncertain terms that they were popular in the days when women wore long skirts and were used to advertise the woman's... ahem, profession.

My grandad was of the age where women drinking pints did so by pouring it into a half pint glass. He could never bring himself to get me a pint without asking for a half glass too, but I think he was secretly impressed by the women he knew who were able to down a pint from a 'man's' glass.

red lipstick are apparently for whores only.

I wear red lipstick if I want to look really good, because it suits me.
[not a whore]

A wankstain of an ex said to me once that he didn't like women who had 'noisy orgasms'. I told him I'd never had that problem with him.

He didn't get it. He was a thicko as well.

Don't say off of
Don't rub your hands over your jeans (???)
No eating in the street
No pierced ears
No red nail varnish
No ankle chains