Ton (society)

Originally used in the context of upper class English society, ton meant the state of being fashionable, a fashionable manner or style, or something for the moment in vogue. It could also (generally with the definite article: the ton) mean people of fashion, or fashionable society generally. 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 according to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1769. 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 admission into the English high society during the English Regency, defined as the ability to secure a "voucher" to Almack's. As written 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 elusive term: ton". For example, in the early 1800s, a poor Irish poet, Thomas Moore was quickly accepted, while the rich but vulgar nouveaux riches were being rejected, as were the three quarters of the nobility. At the time, the word ton was widely used in the fashionable publications with no precise definition, although the very use of the French word for tone suggests the difficulty of "performing it". Indeed, the superiority of Beau Brummell in all things of fashion, acknowledged across the Regency England, was too exquisite to copy: "his power over others derived from subtleties of manner so fine they cannot be reproduced".