And never to royalty

January 15, 2011 2:57 PM

In the nineteenth century, outside of balls and other formal settings, did American women curtsy?

My rough idea is that American serving women would not curtsy to their employers, and American women of a lower class would not curtsy to those of a higher class, just as American men did not touch their forelocks (or at least I don't think so). They would certainly be overtly deferential, but this would not be an expression of it.

posted by Countess Elena to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Not "women" per se, but when I was a wee tot in grade school (circa late 1960s), we were actually taught basic etiquette in public school, including when to shake hands, who stands up when being introduced, etc. At that time, we girls were taught to curtsy when being introduced to an adult.
posted by Oriole Adams at 4:05 PM on January 15, 2011

Outside of Cotillion and deb balls, I think the curtsy was pretty rare. Remember the fuss when Lenore Annenberg, whose husband was Ambassador to the Court of St. James, curtsied to Prince Charles?
posted by Ideefixe at 7:47 PM on January 15, 2011

Seconding Oriole Adams. As a small child in the early 60's, I was taught to curtsy.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:08 PM on January 15, 2011

Best answer: 1800s, folks.

This search for "curtsey" in Google News (localized to the USA) and this one for "curtsy" shows references primarily to foreign women and those of the serving classes; often the word is accompanied by "old-fashioned."

This funny piece on ladies' etiquette from the Gentleman's Magazine (1838) states "The custom of ladies curtseying in the street is now perfectly obsolete, except among a few antiquities, who use hoops."

All of the other etiquette resources I can find indicate that bowing was the order of the day, not curtseying...at least outside of the ballroom.

*deep curtsey*
posted by mynameisluka at 11:08 PM on January 15, 2011

I'm a little younger than Oriole Adams -- by the mid to late 70s, teaching little girls to curtsy as basic etiquette was on its way out of fashion, but still not uncommon. (Grownup women certainly did not curtsy, though.)
posted by desuetude at 11:10 PM on January 15, 2011

Best answer: This is just one item but this American short story from 1853 mentions that Irish servants will curtsy but American servants won't.
posted by interplanetjanet at 9:06 AM on January 16, 2011