Stop curtseying

On a river boat cruise in Germany last year there was a young member of the crew who always smiled and bobbed a curtsey if you met her in a corridor.
I don't think that there was a man on board who didn't fall madly in love with her.

Yes I agree much more civilised.

To curtsey or not is a personal choice.

A bit like covering our face with a veil or some other garment.

Trouble is her maj is so short it is impossible for a tall woman to get below her without looking deranged. Which is what happened to TM where her knee was nearly on the ground to get her head at similar height. As you say men don’t have to do this. A respectful nod should be sufficient. It’s.a bit like side saddle it’s days are over. Good point you raise OP

Seems freedom of speech is our right but freedom to curtsy should be banned

It's all about not looking the queen or other royals in the eye. Why? An honest person should be able to look anyone in the eye irrespective of rank. When a private soldier salutes his/her superior officer, he/she does not bow the head.

I can’t imagine curtsying to anyone although it’s unlikely that I’d ever be in a position where it would be expected. My father used to tell me ‘to bow my head to no man’ (or woman I guess), look the person in the eye and shake his/her hand. That’ll do me.

A tall woman like TM curtseying in a short skirt looks like a newborn foal struggling to its feet. A quick bob should suffice.

Sweeping curtseys belong in period dramas where the costumes are appropriate for the performance.

I imagine the Queen would welcome the end to the curtsey. Can you imagine someone squeezing your hand whilst they are desperately trying not to fall over. I imagine her hand must get quite sore.

Your father had it spot in baubles

What a fuss over nothing, men bow, women curtsey. It's tradition, we have freedom of speech, and if people feel so strongly about doing this, they can exercise the right not to attend the event where they have too
I really cannot see this as a problem.

I would never curtsey or bow to anyone, outdated and so wrong.

Who cares?

I'm not sure I physically could.
A curtsey is like a yoga position!

We had to curtsey, quite elaborately, to our ballet teacher at the start and end of class. It was called a ‘révérence’.

If I was introduced to the Queen, I would probably do a little bob - more than that and I’d fall over now. I might possibly do it for Charles or William, but never to minor members of the royal family.

I don't in any way feel inferior, but it’s just a harmless tradition.

A curtsey is a courtesy [beginning of a poem perhaps?]

It’s a ‘harmless’ tradition that makes women wearing shorter than ankle length dresses look quite ridiculous in my opinion. It used to be tradition for male court officials to be present at the birth of a royal baby, not to mention consummation of the marriage in the first place. Thank heaven we have moved on. Tradition shouldn’t be the reason any woman is obliged to make a spectacle of herself.

I don’t agree however that the queen should have to shake everyone’s hand poor woman. A polite nod would be fine.

It must be so hard having to shake hands for a living . I bet the royals Would rather work 12 hour shifts in a factory any day.

Minerva, it only looks ridiculous if it’s a deep curtsey like Theresa May’s. She didn’t have to do that. A little bob would have done perfectly well.

I bet she’d spent hours practising, too.

Years ago I was staffing a Woen's Aid stall at an event where the chief guest was a man who was the Queen's representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. We were told that should he stop to speak to us we should curtsey as if he WERE the Queen. Being a feminist, a republican and also brought up to bow to no man, I was in a bit of a quandry.

In the event this very tall, charming gentleman approached our stall and bending over, proffered his hand to my 5' self and proceeded to ask in depth, sensible questions about our exhibition.

We had to curtsey, quite elaborately, to our ballet teacher at the start and end of class. It was called a ‘révérence’
Grandma
When we took DGS to karate class, everyone had to do a deep bow to the sensei as soon as they arrived. A mark of respect and an acknowledgment of authority.

Every Friday afternoon, amongst other exercises, we had, on Miss Brown's instruction, to do a 'Nice curtsey for the Queen, gels'
Don't know if any of us met the queen but one feature I found interesting was that Miss B explained how we should lock our knees to hold the curtsey for as long as required. This was probably never useful either but I found it interesting and could probably still do a 'Nice curtsey for the queen' although old and fat

I lived in Japan for some time and after an outing with a fellow Englishwoman we found ourselves bowing deeply to each other before we parted. Followed by gales of laughter as we realised we hadn’t needed to.

Gillybob I can’t imagine working a 12 hour shift at anything though I did work a full day in town and then moonlight in a lively coffee bar until 2 in the morning so that I could go on holiday. I couldn’t do it in my late 70s and Her Aboveness is in her 90s so I wouldn’t wish anything on her but peace and quiet.

Most of my family work or have worked 12 hour shifts Minerva travelling there and back makes for very long days and nights too . I know her Maj is past working age (although the way the pension fiasco is going maybe some if us will have to work until we drop dead) . The young royals wouldn’t know a days “real work” if it slapped them in the face . Why should they?

I thought we all had to curtesy to soop these days?