Social Etiquette

How far is `guy' from `comrade' ? Did you ever stop to think where that ugly appellation "guy" comes from? Or what it means? Or why everyone today is just a "guy"? You may be a mental masochist and enjoy being beaten into just being `one of the guys' - whatever that might mean to you. I don't know. But I don't like it. I don't believe that some acne-faced kid is equal to me because he isn't. I was an acne-faced kid once. But that was a long time ago.

Social etiquette is not based on how much money you have, or don't have. In the old days, a young man or a young lady became a teacher not so much to make a comfortable living, but out of a deep sense of dedication. The same is true of doctors. The same is true of clergymen. These professions were regarded as `noble' as opposed to other more lucrative professions because these professions required far more altruism and self-sacrifice than others. There was also a time when we had `statesmen' in government positions. That was before scribes got into politics and opened the way to the kind of government we `enjoy' today: amoral. The scribes were the forerunners of Protestantism in the Old Testament. Because, generally speaking, teachers and clergymen (Most doctors still like to be called `Doctor' and not just `Dick' or `Harry' - as least by their patients) lost their own self-respect, they thought they would keep their clients by lowering their own standards. Forerunner of all this among the Catholic clergy seems to have been "good Pope John." What made him more `good' than previous occupants of the Chair of Peter has always been a mystery to me. Is it, do you think, becaue he said: "Just call me John"? Or, maybe he would have preferred "Jack"? Nothing breeds contempt more rapidly than familiarity. Ask any military man and he'll tell you.

Respect was shown in saner days depending upon the degree of personal achievement and spirit of community service.

Parental authority which comes from the Creator has degenerated into abject servitude to the whims and caprices of children. Find a wise parent these days and you will find the proverbial `needle in the haystack.'

Genuine social etiquette is more sound than the glitter of those pseudo-humans in Hollywood. Etiquette is nothing more than good sense and good manners when dealing with other people. Throw away that masonic myth of égalité (`equality') because there is no such thing in the real world - neither in this world or in the next.

There can be no social order without authority which is another word for responsibility. Even hell itself is a structured society with Lucifer at its head. There are no `guys' in hell. And if you don't want to believe it, you'll find out for yourself. Likewise, there are no `guys' in heaven.

What in the world is a `guy'? If you ask any of those people who are so quick to label another person as a `guy' and outrageously to address him as a `guy,' I have only one bit of advice: You are lucky to still be standing there with all your teeth in your mouth! Now, the reason I say that is because I don't like being called names - at least not to my face. And no one should be forced by any kind of anti-social crudeness to be addressed as a `guy'.

Where and when did all this start? I don't know. I do know that like any other irrational fad, it catches on very quickly. Parents started calling their children `guys'. Children started calling their parents `guys'. "O.K. guys!" you would hear everywhere you turned. "See you later, `guys'!" Did you ever stop to notice and think what was happening around you and in you, too? Without even thinking, you began to use the term for everyone: Everyone suddenly became a `guy'!

It no longer mattered if you were a male or female of the human species: You were a `guy'! What is a `guy'? Well, if you look up the word `guy' in a Korean dictionary, you would find the Korean equivalent: `nom'. This word is pronounced like the English word `gnome'. And, if you don't know how to pronounce `gnome' in English, maybe you should be flattered to be called a `guy'.

A `guy' is a scoundrel. When these social misfits call you a `guy' they are calling you a `scoundrel' - Hey, scoundrel! I don't even know a real scoundrel who would like being called a `scoundrel'.

If you would look up the word `guy' in Webster's dictionary, this is what you would find:

guy (gî), n.[after Guy Fawkes], 1.an odd or eccentric person. 2. [Slang], a boy, or man; fellow. v.t. (guyed, guying), [Colloq.], to make fun of; ridicule; tease.

You probably wish to know who this guy `Guy Fawkes' was. Well, he was part of a private plot to blow up the House of Parliament and, possibly, King James with it. It was King James who, in March of 1604 followed the advice of his Puritanical ministers and raised the fines levied against Catholics and began killing Catholics as Queen Elizabeth did. The so-called "Gunpowder Plot" was the work of several Catholic men among whom was Mr.Guy Fawkes from the Spanish Netherlands.

Guy Fawkes was caught with the gunpowder and arrested. This entire plot served only to feed the fanaticism of the English Protestants against the Catholics. No amount of objectivity could silence their accusations against the whole Catholic Church.

So you see, the word `guy' has come to mean not a person's first name as in the French or Italian, but a `plotter,' a `scoundrel,' in general, a social misfit.

Therefore, any decent person should take offense when called a `guy'. And the ignorance of those who use this word is no excuse to allow its use.

It's about time that responsible parents started taking control of the education of their children.

It has been said that people get the kind of government they deserve. This must be true because we have almost nothing but `guys' in government, in education, in the clergy!

Remember: `Guys' is just a gimmick to make zeroes out of everyone. It's a subtle way of destroying praiseworthy self-respect.

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