Ton (society)

Uncommon card · No. 196993

Originally used in the context of upper class English society, ton meant the state of being fashionable, a fashionable manner or style, or something in vogue. It could also (generally with the definite article: the ton) mean people of fashion, or fashionable society generally (as in an expression "leaders of the ton and all high society"). A variant of the archaic French term bon-ton, designating good style or breeding, polite, fashionable or high society, or the fashionable world, ton's first recorded use in English was in 1769 according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In British English, the word is pronounced as in French /tɒ̃/, with American English favouring the Anglicised pronunciation /tɔn/ or /tɑn/. Ton was a requirement for acceptance into English high society during the English Regency. As stated by Ellen Moers, "[w]ealth was no guarantee of admission ... Birth was no guarantee ... Beauty, talent, achievement, distinction—none of these meant anything unless qualified by that...

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