Jo Hayes says good manners cost nothing and can even help men get lucky in love (Picture: SWNS)

An etiquette expert claims good manners are dying out – including handshakes and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.

Jo Hayes, 37, says everyone deserves to be shown courtesy and is urging younger generations to improve their ‘atrocious’ social skills.

She also thinks men should ‘still stand and be chivalrous when a woman enters the room’ – and would stand a better chance of finding a girlfriend if they did.

The TV journalist from Brisbane, Australia, said: ‘Good manners are not about acting like royalty.

‘It’s about offering everyone we encounter basic dignity.

‘A handshake on introduction has been a part of society for a long time but it is fading away within younger generations.

‘I’d like to see it return when all covid worries are out the way.

‘A handshake is a way to build intimacy.’

Handshakes are a way to give people ‘basic dignity’ and can build intimacy, says Jo (Picture: Getty)

Jo also believes we should all remember to use someone’s name several times in conversation when we first meet them.

‘People love hearing their own name,’ she explained.

‘Our brain hears it and knows we are acknowledged. We should say it at least twice in the first conversation.

‘It also helps imprint the person’s name in our brain.’

Jo thinks modern men could learn from old charmers like Cary Grant (left) and James Stewart, pictured with Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (Picture: Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images)

As children we are all taught to say ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ but Jo believes many of us have fallen out of the habit.

She added: ‘I’ve noticed less of it. People should still be quick to apologise if they are in the wrong.

‘People see apologising as a weakness but it’s actually a great inner strength if you can apologise.’

Jo also thinks people need to remember not to drone on so much that their friends can’t get a word in edgeways.

‘We’ve all been in a conversation where someone is doing too much of the talking,’ she said.

‘You should ask them a question when you have spoken for too long.

‘Make sure that turn taking is reasonably equal.

‘If you need to interrupt use “forgive me” or “sorry”.

Simple gestures like this show respect and chivalry, says TV journalist Jo (Picture: Getty)

‘Using these go along way to create ease in conversations when they could potentially be seen as rude.’

Standing for a lady may seem like a throwback to the days of old Hollywood smoothies like Cary Grant, but Jo thinks it could help modern men show the ladies they are true gents.

‘My father still stands up when I come in,’ she said.

‘We see this kind of thing in older shows or movies and I think we are culturally past it now.

‘But it would be nice to bring it back in a dating sense. If a man wants to woo his lady that would go such a long way.

‘It shows you are a gentleman and shows respect and chivalry.’

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She thinks men should stand when a lady enters the room.