FORMER generations fretted about which items of cutlery to use or how to address important figures in their desperation to fit into polite society.

Today it is deemed more important for women to know that they should not be cavorting nude in the gym changing room or gyrating their naked bottom in front of a mirror.

They should also never attempt to kiss the boss in a social situation. As for social kissing generally, it may be four pecks in Paris but in Britain it should never be more than two. Glossily lipsticked women should avoid all kiss contact and instead refine the technique of air-kissing.

These tips to avoid the pitfalls of 21st-century living are included in a new “Noughtiquette” guide that appears in the November edition of Good Housekeeping magazine.

It also provides women with some useful one-liners to help them in the art of the put-down. So if someone asks a woman why she is not married, her instant quip should be, “Because I didn’t want to settle for second best”.

Women are given warning, however, that they should not take their own relationships for granted. So they should never ogle other men in the company of their partner and, regardless of the antics of Sex and the City, it is thoroughly bad form to reveal the details of your sex life.

Food envy is unappealing, so women are advised to order what they really want when they go out to eat: take the steak and chips instead of the salade niçoise with the dressing on the side. Men generally detest it when their partners steal from their plates. Anyone likely to quibble over the bill because they have not had a starter or pudding should not eat out in groups. Equally, if people want to order the most expensive items on the menu they should let their friends know that they will pay extra.

June Walton, the magazine’s deputy editor, said: “Our message is for women of all age groups and is to remind us all that life has moved on and we need some rules for the 21st century. We also think women have been talking about sex too much and a little too openly.”

Women should comply with friends who insist on shoes off in their homes but they should never ask how much someone paid for a house.

No woman should ever have a funny or even trendy mobile phone ring tone and should always use the mute button to silence it in gym classes, cinemas and restaurants.

Women should never stand behind a colleague and read their e-mails, and should never use a smiley face in an e-mail.

It is good manners to invite a former spouse to your next wedding. The guide suggests, however, that it is “even better manners for them to have booked to go away that weekend”.

NOUGHTIQUETTE

Never use the lavatory while your other half is in the shower or bath

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Sacha Baron Cohen forced to tone down Brüno