User:Ejtyruda/sandbox

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I'M WRITING A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE AS AN ACADEMIC ASSIGNMENT, PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS PAGE!

- Ejtyruda

1.    The introduction to savoir-vivre

1.1.          The origin and the definition of the term

Savoir-vivre (in other words: bon-ton, good manners, social conventions / conventionalities, acquaintance with current customs and rites, rules of politeness) is a term having its origin in the French language. The main phrase is composed of two French words – savoir [fr. verb: to know] and vivre [fr. verb: to live]. The combination of these words together in an English literal translation means “the knowledge of how to live” but commonly the phrase is interpreted as “the art of life”.

The lexical definition coming from “The dictionary of the Polish language edited by Witold Jan Doroszewski, Warsaw 1958 – 1969” presents savoir-vivre as the principles of good upbringing / having good manners, social conventions and the knowledge of these.

The Polish lexical definition is identical with the international interpretation of the term in question, however, savoir-vivre is strictly conditioned by culture. By being composed of customs, rites, ceremonies, celebrations, steady gestures and polite expressions, it differs from its composition in every other region of the World, among different nations and countries.

The phrase in title “on Polish land” is a reference to the condition of savoir vivre known in the last, tradition-based epoch in the history of Poland with the nation divided into formal social stratums each having their own, specific and different, set of customs – the interwar years.

1.2.          Historical background - the interwar years

The age in time called ’’the interwar years’’ is dated in Poland from 1918 to 1939.

The structure of social stratums still present in Poland after the 1st  World War was as follows:

1.  The intelligentsia / elite

2.  The landowners

3.  The military men / officers (men holding elevated positions, having high military

ranks)

4.  The petit-townsmen

5.  The manual workers

6.  The peasants

The pre-war Polish savoir-vivre was dictated mainly by members of the first three groups, which is the elite, landowners and military men. In XX century it was commonly believed that people born of the upper classes only were born with good manners. Knowledge of principles of le bon ton and class etiquette was considered

a natural, innate trait or skill and it was difficult to possess them through the course of life while being born into one of the underclass in the social ladder.

Before the 2nd World War completely broke the social convention a few significant, cultural standards remained afterwards and they are still visible and similar to their original fashion in modern world in Poland. These are crucial principles of greeting people, serving food, entertaining guests or the fashion of social relations between the opposite sexes.

The comparison between the previous condition of savoir-vivre - before the 2nd World War destroyed the old social order and established a new one lacking tradition and social conventions - and the current one results in the creation of a topical, universal set of principles marking out up-to-date savoir-vivre concept forming a code of appropriate behavior in the times of social equality in various fields of life of the XXI age.

Today, the common belief is that the knowledge of savoir-vivre principles as in the art of life is an indication of every person’s good manners and right upbringing.