The means by which sugar lumps arrived on tables in polite society were carefully hidden.

ECONOMIST: Slavery

But even when the east Europeans have departed, debating the merits of immigration will no longer be off-limits in polite society.

ECONOMIST: Immigration trends

Mr. Kirby says his upbringing as a white minority in his neighborhood left him "uncomfortable" in polite society and hostile to authority.

WSJ: The American Who Tells Russia How Bad Things Are in America

But for attacking Logan, he was excommunicated from polite society.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Lara Logan and the media rules

When advised by his doctors to take a break from his cares as one of the richest men in America, he astonished the rest of polite society by taking a pass on the suggested world cruise and came to Alaska, of all places, instead.

BBC: Journey into the Alaskan wild

The European political class will not permit this - even though what is "undiscussable" in polite society is a statement of the numbingly obvious if you stroll through Amsterdam and Rotterdam, not to mention Antwerp, Clichy-sous-Bois, Malmo, or any old Yorkshire mill town.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Mark Steyn on the Geert Wilders Trial

Anti-Catholic prejudice was rife in polite English society until surprisingly recently: countless families can tell tales of scandals or feuds triggered by a mixed Anglican-Catholic marriage, up to the 1960s or 1970s.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot