In 1948, Millicent Fenwick wrote the Vogue’s Book of Etiquette, intended to declare the mores and manners for a modern age—ladies no longer needed to leave a ladylike amount of food on their plates at the end of a meal, for instance, or how to mix your different china collections. Sixty-seven years later, there are many new etiquette queries to be addressed, and in Millicent's absence, we will happily take on the task. The vast unknown of smartphone manners alone could fill an additional volume. Are mealtime selfies acceptable? What about photos of your food? Should your phone have a place on the table next to your knife and fork? In this age of equality, who pays? Over a delicious lunch with my impeccably mannered friend and colleague, Mark Guiducci, at the fabulous new Polo Bar, we discussed a few of the nuances of modern etiquette.
Millicent’s 23 Rules for Table Manners:

1. Napkins belong on the lap.
2. The back should be straight without rigidity.
3. About elbows, which should be anchored to the table or the ribs, but always down near the sides.
4. Use your soup spoon in a motion away from the table edge.
5. Leave soup spoon in soup plate when done, but never in a soup cup.
6. Always drink something served in a cup from the cup itself (do not drink coffee from a spoon after stirring it).
7. The little finger should never be crooked.
8. Food should be kept in the center of the plate away from the flat rim.
9. Do not push around or mess up your food.
10. Only one thing cut at a time, no layering.
11. Two bites should never be taken from the same forkful.
12. About where to leave utensils mid-meal
13. And after a meal
14. The mouth should be wiped before drinking to keep the edge of the glass attractively clean.
15. Always break bread into pieces before buttering.
16. Sauces should not be sopped up with bread, nor should bread be dipped into coffee. . . . Though "Sopping up sauces or gravy with a piece of bread is standard practice in the good, hearty eating ways of middle-class Continental Europe; here, it is regarded as a little eccentric but flattering to the hostess."
17. Salad should not be cut with a knife.
18. Anything that must be taken from the mouth and put back on a plate is dealt with according to a very simple rule: If it went in on a spoon, it comes out on a spoon (follows for hands, forks, etc.).
19. Never dip one utensil used for one reason (jam) into the vessel of another (butter).
20. Condiments go on the plate before the food.
21. Same goes for food served from a platter.
22. Soup, oysters, or any food already portioned should never be refused.
23. Fingers should never be used to push food onto the fork.