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?

Oh, and Heaven forbid, using any type of tool let alone owning them! Although I kind of think my mum had it right here albeit for the wrong reasons. Instead of being seen as unladylike, I now get lumbered with all of the DIY!

My granny was always appalled at me drinking pints of beer but especially so if I was wearing a dress.

I still drink pints but wear less dresses these days!

My mother was especially keen on the wearing a slip at all times - even with trousers when I was eventually allowed a pair! You had to wear a waist slip tucked into the trousers as otherwise men could see the shape of your bottom.

Catching up on mumsnet and loving all ladies who drink pints and wear dms.

I use to drink pints in a pretty nineties floral dress with brown docs. Unfortunately growing up for me now means I'm rather more ladylike than my teenage self would approve of.

Yes to coloured tights, eating in the street and anklets being the sole province of advertising prostitutes... and my grandfather was horrified when he first saw me with a pint. Also no tattoos, discreet makeup only, and never wearing high heeled shoes barefoot/without stockings. This is apparently common. So I do it, but I do it while feeling properly guilty.

Breaking wind in frotn of stranger.

and if you DID accidently break wind , on no account were you to draw attention to it by saying 'pardon' . in fact never never say pardon at all.

galletti,
Or acting like a "herrie" if you were too bold!!!

Just remembered.

Jeans. Not ladylike at all and no one wore them in our house. When I left and visited with jeans on, my dm said " straight from the stables today?" And a sniff:)

They were spotless and very nice jeans:)

Oh and racy knickers in any colour other than white and any material other than cotton. No frills and they covered you up properly:)

And of course, g-strings or seamless pants. Pointless garments not worth spending money on.

There should be a panty line. No lady goes out without knickers on, why on earth would any woman want to look as though she wasn't wearing pants?

My parents never got their heads round that.

And married woman didn't go to clubs or have nights out with other women without their dh. They stayed home and knitted, whilst their dh went out. Life, in effect was over if you followed their advice, married your first bf at 21 and didn't work, unless you were one of those awful women who had a career, in which case they weren't ladylike and were to be pitied:)

My Dad always said 'pierced ears are for gypsies'

Then my mum went and got hers pierced, so he stopped saying it! I wasn't allowed until I was 13 though.
Funny, because I haven't worn anything in my pierced ears for about 5 years and am to keen on my daughters having it done for a good while. Not because of gypsies though.....perhaps other snobby reasons!!

'Princess Diana'; she was Diana, Princess of Wales; do get it right.

I remember a time when girls wore dresses to birthday parties, sometimes maxi dresses, along with best tights or white socks and Sunday shoes. I had my tenth birthday in 1974 (I am so old ), which was just about the time and just about the age (just about preteen) when styles were shifting. Several of my classmates had Levi's jeans, which were the height of fashion in South Dublin at that time (I think they were the only jeans available, and actually the father of a classmate owned Ireland's only jeans boutique) and in the runup to my party there was much discussion of their intention of wearing jeans and a red poloneck and sneakers (the other In Things To Wear) and not the normal dress and good shoes.

Many parents were horrified when this gossip was made known to them, and a few phoned my parents to ask if this was really true, and if they were going to tolerate the wearing of jeans to a birthday party, by girls. Dad fielded the most apoplectic of the callers purely by chance, and had what was probably the strangest conversation of his life, mostly owing to the fact that he didn't know what jeans were and thought the parents were talking about a girl named Jean. He had to put the phone down for a second to ask me who he was talking to and what they might be talking about. He ended up saying something diplomatic about everyone being most welcome no matter what they were wearing and looking forward to a lot of fun for all, as well as hinting that we would be spending time in the garden so wellies might be in order depending on the October weather .