I had a more serious post planned out, but I can't resist this instead. Serious posting tomorrow! Today, an excerpt from a chapter on culture and custom in diplomatic practice, which quotes Erasmus (1546) on how to behave so as not to embarrass yourself at table, a common theme (!) in early treatises on diplomacy:
When you spit, turn your back so that you do not dirty anyone else; do not spit on the table.
Do not blow your nose in the tablecloth; it is to wipe your greasy fingers on.
Do not blow your nose with the same fingers with which you reach into the common dish.
Do not use both hands in the dish. Do not dip half-eaten morsels in the common sauce a second time.
Vomiting is no disgrace provided one does not dirty others.
So now you know: complaints about double-dipping are at least 500 years old.
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