The sixteenth century English writer, Joseph Addison, stated: “Men have the sword, women have the fan and the fan is probably as effective a weapon!”
The Language of the Fan demonstrates the hidden language of the fan, an art that has been lost, but was once widely followed, as Lucy Worsley demonstrates in this video. In Georgian England, women wore fans as a fashion accessory with almost every outfit that they owned. Women carried daytime fans, and even fans to funerals.
For more information about these fashionable accessories, go to the following sites:
Jane Austen's World 
[…] Click here to read my other post about fans: The Language of the Fan […]
Fascinating! I will admit that “fun language” is pretty creative way to communicate. I wonder how they learned it….
How did ladies decipher a gentleman’s response? was it like, a conversation, with several signals crossing to the same person, or a monologue with only one or two signals per time? was there a proper way to respond other than coming up and speaking to the lady?