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It's for certain that you can carry this politeness thing too far.
Just take a look at this obstetrical case.
This is
the story of a pregnant woman who complained to her doctor
that she was afraid her unborn child might grow up
to be rough and coarse like her husband,
and what could she do to prevent that.
The doctor advised that every morning when she got up,
she should tap her finger on her belly and repeat the words,
"BE POLITE, BE POLITE, BE POLITE
,"
and the same thing before going to bed at night.
This, he assured her would have the correct impression
on the unborn child to be polite.
She carried out the doctor's orders to a "T."
After the eighth month she was anticipating the birth of the child.
It was nine months, and still the child wasn't born.
Ten and eleven months passed, and finally a year,
and still she hadn't given birth.
In alarm, she returned to the doctor.
He examined her and then
put her under the fluoroscope
to see what was wrong inside, and there he beheld
the strangest sight ever known to medical science.
There he saw two babies, twins,
each one
pointing to the opening and saying to the other,
"After you," and the other would reply, "No, after you . . ."
-- James E. Myers, A Treasury of Medical Humor
(Springfield, IL: Lincoln-Herndon Press, Inc.)
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