The Way We Are

What Everyday Objects and Conventions Tell Us About Ourselves

Margaret Visser

• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Year: 2015
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781504011686
• Subtopic: Customs & Traditions
• Index: Social Sciences

The beloved and bestselling "anthropologist of everyday life" turns her witty and insightful gaze to the oddities of living in our modern world
Over the course of her time as a contributor and editor for  Saturday Night magazine—a span during which she published her award-winning book  The Rituals of Dinner—Margaret Visser specialized in thought-provoking columns capable of turning the banal into the extraordinary. From high heels to showers to the metamorphosis of Santa Claus, these essays span an eclectic and engrossing range of topics perfect for Visser fans and newcomers alike. With academic rigor and a warm narrative style, she takes commonplace facets of everyday life—crossword puzzles, fireplaces, paid time off—and digs into their peculiar origins and surprising social legacies. In examining some of the most ordinary elements of life, Visser sorts through historical facts and cultural implications to reveal the hidden assumptions behind our modern behavior.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Praise for the Writing of Margaret Visser
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction: Yes, but What Does it Mean?
• Heavenly Hostesses
• Initiations
• Awful Offal
• Sunstruck
• Conspicuous Competence
• Talking Turkey
• No, Virginia
• High Heels
• Baked Beans: An Apotheosis
• In Flagrante Delicto
• Tips of the Slongue
• Greetings
• Beards
• Avocados
• Tipping
• Vacations
• English Spelling; Or would You Like to be Phtheighchound for a Ghoti?
• Umbrellas
• Parades: Taking Over the Street
• Blush, Cringe, Fidget
• Bells
• The February Feast
• Caviar
• The Professionals
• The Left Hand
• Wedding Cake
• Taking a Shower
• Crossword Puzzles
• Sitting Pretty
• Gloves
• The Fireplace
• Great Expectorations
• Wigs
• Knitting
• Sour Grapes
• Swimsuits
• Menus
• Wearing Blue
• Uncivilized to Contemplate
• Santa Claus’s Significant Other
• Stripes
• The Easter Bunny
• “I Mean, You Know, Like …”
• Vinegar and the Search for Sour
• Mahogany
• The Joy of Jelly
• Synaesthesia
• Runs, Wrinkles, Seams, and Snags
• Christmas Pudding
• Hearts
• Fasting
• The New Ice Age
• Bright-Eyed, Bushy-Tailed, Serves Six
• Tap-Dancing
• Broad Beans
• Chewing Gum
• I’ll Never Forget Whatshisname
• Seeing Red
• Paying Attention to Snow
• Soup of the Evening, Beautiful Soup
• Index
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Copyright Page