Etiquette Trivia
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97 free Etiquette trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The word etiquette comes from the French for a ticket or label, and Louis XIV used the rules it describes to keep his nobles busy at Versailles. Since then the subject has produced a Renaissance bestseller about effortless cool, a 50-year-old novelist who became America's manners authority, and a Royal Navy superstition about toasting with water. These 97 questions cover the people who wrote the rules (Castiglione, Erasmus, Lord Chesterfield, Emily Post, Amy Vanderbilt, Miss Manners, Debrett's), the table (which hand holds the fork, where the napkin goes, how to signal you have finished, why you never stand chopsticks in rice), greetings around the world (the wai, the hongi, namaste, the three-kiss countries, the oldest handshake on record) and the fine print of white tie, black tie and RSVP. Every answer is cited to a page we checked. Play in sets of ten or print the list.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The word 'etiquette' comes from a French word for what everyday object?
A ticket
A ticket or label was the old French word's meaning, and one telling says the manners sense grew from cards instructing courtiers how to behave.
Q 02Which French king used a codified etiquette to tame his nobility at Versailles?
Louis XIV
Louis XIV kept nobles at Versailles chasing royal favour inside a strict etiquette, which eroded the provincial power they might have used to plot.
Q 03Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 guide to ideal courtly behaviour is called what?
The Book of the Courtier
The Book of the Courtier spread across Europe in translation, reaching England in Thomas Hoby's 1561 version.
Q 04Castiglione's prized quality 'sprezzatura' is best translated as what?
Studied nonchalance
Studied nonchalance meant making hard things look effortless, and the word still names that unfussed chic, especially in fashion.
Q 05Which Dutch humanist wrote the 1530 manners manual 'On Civility in Children'?
Erasmus
Erasmus's handbook was reprinted so often that a French typeface used for printing manners books came to be called civilité.
Q 06Which earl's 'Letters to His Son', published in 1774, served as a guide to manners and worldly success?
Lord Chesterfield
Lord Chesterfield never meant the letters for publication, and Samuel Johnson sneered that they taught 'the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master'.
Q 07In 'Letters to His Son', a father hoped his boy would often be seen to smile but never heard to do what?
Laugh
Never laugh aloud, the letters advised, because loud laughter showed folly and was 'the mirth of the mob, who are only pleased with silly things'.
Q 08As a youth, which US president copied out 110 'Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour' by hand?
George Washington
George Washington copied them out as a schoolboy, and the maxims are thought to have helped shape his character.
Q 09At a toast, who should neither stand nor drink?
The honoree
The honoree waits until the toast is over, then may rise to thank the speaker.
Q 10What was the profession of Emily Post's father, Bruce Price?
Architect
Architect Bruce Price designed Quebec City's Château Frontenac hotel and Montreal's Windsor Station for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Q 11As of 2026, who runs the Emily Post Institute?
Her descendants
Her descendants run it, and family members have revised her Etiquette for new editions over the decades.
Q 12Which etiquette authority published her best-selling 'Complete Book of Etiquette' in 1952?
Amy Vanderbilt
Amy Vanderbilt's guide was later updated by Letitia Baldrige, who published a revised edition in 1978.
Q 13Under what pen name has Judith Martin written an etiquette column since 1978?
Miss Manners
She refers to herself in the third person throughout, and her children began sharing the byline in 2013.
Q 21When eating soup, in which direction should the spoon move through the bowl?
Away from you
Away from you is the stroke, and the soup is then sipped silently from the side of the spoon rather than its tip.
Q 22At the end of a meal, where does etiquette say your napkin should go?
Loosely to the left of the plate
Loosely to the left of the plate: crumpled on the plate looks uncouth, and it need not be folded neatly, since it has clearly been used.
Q 23According to European table manners, what should you do before adding salt and pepper?
Taste the food
Q 14Etiquette expert Letitia Baldrige was famous for serving as social secretary to which First Lady?
Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Kennedy's social secretary quit the White House in 1963, saying she had had it, but came back that year to help the first lady after the president's assassination.
Q 15Before its etiquette guides, what did Debrett's catalogue?
The peerage
The peerage was its first subject, and Debrett's later added coaching in social skills through its own academy.
Q 16What does the French phrase behind RSVP literally mean?
Respond if it pleases you
Respond if it pleases you is the literal sense, and because s'il vous plaît already means please, 'please RSVP' says please twice.
Q 17On an invitation, what does 'regrets only' mean?
Answer if you cannot attend
Silence is taken as acceptance, which cuts down the host's correspondence when most guests are expected to say yes.
Q 18In European table manners, which hand traditionally holds the fork?
The left
The left hand holds the fork, tines down, while the right hand's knife cuts, which spares diners the constant switching of the American zig-zag style.
Q 19How has the Emily Post Institute advised taking something unpleasant out of your mouth at the table?
Onto your fork
Onto your fork, the institute has advised, if the bite went in on one, though Emily Post's own 1922 book said anything leaves the mouth between finger and thumb.
Q 20How do you signal to a waiter that you have finished eating?
Place knife and fork together on the plate
Parallel at the 6 o'clock or 4 o'clock position, tines up, works whether or not the plate is empty.
Taste the food first, because seasoning it before tasting can suggest you doubt the cook's skill.
Q 24What is the correct way to eat a bread roll at a formal table?
Tear off mouth-sized pieces
Tear off mouth-sized pieces and butter each one just before eating it, since older guides said bread is never cut but always broken.
Q 25Traditionally in Europe, who takes the first bite of a meal?
The host or hostess
The host or hostess begins once everyone is seated and served, unless they invite the guests to start first.
Q 26At a Chinese tea meal, what does tapping your fingers on the table as your cup is refilled mean?
Thank you
Thank you is the meaning, and legend says the tap began when companions of a Qing emperor in disguise could not kneel to him.
Q 27Thomas Coryat is credited with bringing the table fork to England after seeing it used in which country?
Italy
Italy's fork habit stuck with Coryat, and a friend teasingly called him 'furcifer' for using a fork at the table.
Q 28In which empire was the personal table fork most likely invented?
Byzantine
A Byzantine princess, Maria Argyropoulina, was criticised by churchman Peter Damian for eating with a fork.
Q 29In 1948, Emily Post declared what to be 'far better form' than reusing breakfast linen?
Paper napkins
Paper napkins had been imported to the US since the late 1800s, and with Post's approval they became big business by mid-century.
Q 30The claim that Leonardo da Vinci invented the napkin in 1491 comes from what kind of source?
An April Fools' prank book
Leonardo's Kitchen Notebooks (1987) invented a 'Codex Romanoff' that never existed, and the story has circulated ever since.