Who says chivalry is dead?

There was a time when a real man was expected to pay for dinner, hold the door open or even go as far as pretending to like Jack Johnson if he wanted to be regarded by the fairer sex as anything more than a grunting caveman.

I remember my all-boys high school principal explaining to an assembly that, as gentlemen on a date, we were expected to walk on the outside of the pavement, forming an incredibly delicate, painfully-mortal human barrier between our feckless lady-friends and oncoming traffic.

Fortunately, my children will never have to grow up in a world where the measure of a man’s romance is in direct proportion with his willingness to fling himself under a moving vehicle. British retailer, Austin Reed has conducted a recent survey in which it was revealed that these days, a romantic SMS and regular Facebook posts are far more important to modern women when measuring male manners.

That’s not to say that being a gentleman is a lost art. An Austin Reed spokesman said:

Being a gentleman is as applicable for our society today as it was in history and is about having respect for yourself and other members of your society.

It’s just that now we have to keep that respect to 140 characters or less.

[Metro]