Posted by Adam Quinan on February 25, 2002 at 12:28:29 from 66.185.85.76:
In Reply to: Re: Male chauvinism- how things were done posted by Prue Eckett on February 25, 2002 at 02:47:44:
Prue wrote: "Private correspondence may not be now, but societal mores especially prior to WW2 were strictly adhered to and as an educated girl of the upper/middle class, she would most certainly have followed them, less she show her lack of breeding.Remember, her family were known in the district, and a lapse on her part would have been noted, even by a railway porter. "
To which I respond: This is absolute nonsense! You must not confuse what you read in stuffy Victorian books for the guidance of the ignorant with pretensions to gentility with real life.
Have you read any letters of the 1930s? There were certain formalities in correspondence, for example in responding to formal invitations or in condolence for a death etc. but for personal private correspondence, anyone who wanted to write to someone could (and did) do so with perfect propriety regardless of age or sex.