Introducing People

Being in Britain it is very important to know how to introduce peo­ple. There are some rules of introduction which are useful to remember: a man is introduced to a woman unless he is much older and more senior; young men are introduced to older men; old friends are introduced to newcomers; young women are introduced to older women. Men always stand when introduced, ladies may remain seated.

As a rule when introducing one says something like: "Mrs Bennett, may I introduce Mr Hogart?" and then turning to Mr Hogart simply says: "Mrs Bennett." That is all that is necessary, but one may add: "Mr Hogart has just returned from a visit to Spain", or some other bit of in­formation which will give the introduced person a chance to start a con­versation.

When you are introduced to a person you always say, "How do you do." That doesn't mean that you are actually interested in the state of health of the person you are being introduced to. The proof of this is that the other person does not answer your question, but in turn asks you the same question which you don't answer either. True enough "How do you do?" sounds quite formal and rather old-fashioned, so occasionally, when strangers are introduced to each other, they might use the more familiar "Glad to meet you!" or even "Hello!" instead of the stiff and formal "How do you do?". It is very good to add the name of the person introduced: "I'm very glad to meet you, Mr Bennett." If you did not remember the name it is perfectly all right simply to ask "What was your name, please?" or "Could you kindly repeat (give) your name?"

Handshaking is rather rare in Britain but it is the correct thing to do on the Continent. British people occasionally shake hands especially when formally introduced, but they don't shake hands with people they see often. Instead they smile and say: "Good morning", "Good after­noon", "Good evening", etc. When two businessmen meet, however, they usually shake hands.

Exercises to the text:

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