Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People

by P. J. O'Rourke

On This Page

Description

An "extremely funny" take on the decline of civility, from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of How the Hell Did This Happen? (The Plain Dealer).

In Modern Manners, cultural guru P. J. O'Rourke provides the essential accessory for the truly contemporary man or woman—a rulebook for living in a world without rules.

Traditionally, good manners were a means of becoming as bland and invisible as everyone else, thus avoiding calling attention to one's own awkwardness and stupidity. show more Today, with everyone wanting to appear special, stupidity is at a premium, and manners—as outrageous and bizarre as possible—are a wonderful way to distinguish ourselves, or at least have a fine time trying.

This irreverent and hilarious guide to anti-etiquette offers pointed advice on topics from sex and entertaining to reading habits and death. With the most up-to-date forms of vulgarity, churlishness, and presumption, the latest fashions in discourtesy and barbarous display, O'Rourke is our guide to the art of incivility.

"Modern Manners is O'Rourke doing what he has always done: making hilarious, insightful, often vicious fun of the world and all its inhabitants." —People

"A reader who rushes through [Modern Manners] from cover to cover—like I did—will feel like a child who has gorged on chocolate cake: happy, but a bit disappointed that it's all gone. The reason O'Rourke's book is so successful, however, is not just his great sense of humor. O'Rourke's writing has a cutting edge behind it, which makes a reader's laughter just a bit thought-provoking, and just a bit rueful . . . Very funny." —Chicago Tribune.
show less

Tags

Recommendations

Member Reviews

6 reviews
I loved this book. It's got that off-the-cuff snarkiness that can make O'Rourke a genius. It's over the top funny and worth a read. The part where he makes up interesting family histories still makes me laugh.
Funny book again by this author. Searing humorist, but also says a lot about the type of society we live in these days.
This might have been funny the first time around, but it does not stand up to rereading as some of O'Rourke's work does.
could be funny, if you are young and in high spirits. i found it sufficiently funny 20 years ago.
Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People (O'Rourke, P. J.) by P. J. O'Rourke (1994)

Members

Recently Added By

Author Information

Picture of author.
46+ Works 12,023 Members
P. J. O'Rourke was born in Toledo, Ohio on November 14, 1947. He received a B. A. from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a M.A. in English from Johns Hopkins University. He worked for the magazine National Lampoon, eventually becoming editor-in-chief. He received a writing credit for National Lampoon's Lemmings which helped launch the careers show more of John Belushi and Chevy Chase. In 1981, he left the magazine to write screenplays including Rodney Dangerfield's Easy Money. He contributes regularly to several magazines including Playboy, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The American Spectator, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, The Weekly Standard, and Rolling Stone. He is the author of 20 books including Parliament of Whores, Give War a Chance, All the Troubles in the World, Don't Vote! - It Just Encourages the Bastards, and How It Got That Way (And It Wasn't My Fault) (And I'll Never Do It Again). (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Common Knowledge

Original publication date
1983
First words
(Introduction): The modern world is a horrid place.
Manners are a way to express altruism in daily life.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Wear clothes that are three or four sizes too big and ask Japanese to lift you up so you can reach drinking fountains.
Original language
English

Classifications

DDC/MDS
818.5402Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican miscellaneous writings in English20th Century1945-1999
LCC
PN6231 .E8 .O76Language and LiteratureLiterature (General)Literature (General)Collections of general literatureWit and humor
BISAC

Statistics

Members
580
Popularity
50,477
Reviews
6
Rating
½ (3.48)
Languages
5 — Czech, English, Norwegian (Bokmål), Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
13
ASINs
3