Don’t chew with your mouth open.
Don’t take the middle urinal.
Don’t make eye contact while eating a banana.
Society has many unspoken rules that most certainly should not be broken. In fact, many of the most awkward situations arise when one of these unspoken rules are ignored. Perhaps the most classic example of an unspoken rule concerns the men’s restroom.
Every guy, I hope, knows that if there are three or more urinals, you always take the urinals on the end. And if those stations are occupied, you choose the urinal one spot apart from the other occupant. Unfortunately, it appears some dudes are not aware of the bro code.
But unspoken rules extend themselves past the confines of the men’s restroom – which raises the question: how important are unspoken rules?
Very. These moral principles that we apply to our everyday lives are what keep our society functioning. Without unspoken rules, the principles of manners and common courtesy will altogether disappear. There can’t be a law for everything, so society must compensate for this by creating its own secret collection of rules.
Many unspoken rules are learned during childhood: don’t chew with your mouth open, don’t point, and keep your elbows off the table. But as we age, we recognize more and more of these boundaries.
Students at Trinity are quite aware of unspoken rules. “Don’t ask a fat lady is she’s pregnant,” Robert Simms comments. After passing by a couple nuzzling against each other in the Quad, junior Alex Beemer responds, “No PDA on campus.”
But these rules are not only applied to keep young children in line. Many adults also live by a set of unspoken rules. Susan Lilley is a firm believer in unspoken rules. She comments, “Teachers should not be on their laptops during faculty meetings. It really annoys me and it’s rude.”
The issue that arises with unspoken rules occurs when they are broken. What do you do? If an unspoken rule is broken what happens? You can’t punish someone for breaking a law that doesn’t exist. And yet, every time someone doesn’t follow along, we find ourselves cringing with discomfort. But really, what can be done?
I’m sure we all recall the fiasco that was “Junior Row” in which a majority of the junior class protested for their parking. The second to last row of the parking lot is typically where juniors park. However, sophomores have begun to park in this row. There is no rule in our handbook or school policy that states sophomores can’t park there. In fact, the only major rule of parking is the “Seniors Only” section. But, there is an understanding that sophomores should park in the last row. This is a well-respected rule that has been followed by many sophomores before them.
However, there is no Trinity Prep “law” that can physically punish the sophomores, so they have every right to park in the so called “Junior Row.”
Of course, the world of Trinity would be a lot happier if everyone respected this unspoken rule.
When asked about whether Juniors should have their own row, senior Baxter Bramblett replies, “Honestly no. Seniors should get priority and have their own privileges.”
Unspoken rules span not only our immediate surroundings, but other cultures. Different countries have different customs that contain their own code book. Freshman Sylvia Chu relates to unspoken rules, “It depends on what kind of culture you live in and you don’t want to disrespect other cultures like Asian people with the ‘no shoes in the house’ rule.”
In short, unspoken rules are necessary for a society to function. Whether it’s keeping out of someone’s personal space, or not picking your nose in public, unspoken rules prevent awkward situations and keep the world turning. People would get along a lot better if we all respect these unspoken rules.
