Sentence examples for friendly formality from inspiring English sources

At the time that he met the unattainable girl, another girl, whom he treated with a distant, friendly formality, tinged with a benign contempt, adored him and would have done anything for him, had he but asked.

Rita Jammet, who with her husband, Andre, became owner of La Caravelle in 1988, says they have attracted younger diners by steering away from stuffiness with an attitude they call "friendly formality".

"We are trying to bring back the idea of hospitality, not give the feeling, 'Are you good enough to come in here?' " Though the phrase friendly formality sounds lifted from a marketing textbook, I did see it in practice at two recent meals.

The process was largely a formality, as a friendly Republican majority in the Senate pretty much guaranteed Pai's confirmation.

Though friendly, there's a Manhattan-like formality to the service, down to the whispered deliberations between hosts about seating arrangements, and the wine list has over two hundred selections, though only one rosé.

My friendly smiles and personal comments were greeted with cold formality by the Polish, French, German, or Russian colleagues I was getting to know.

The service is a successful compromise between the strict formality of European and the more casual, friendly style that American restaurants typically prefer.

Lidington says he can pick up the phone to other Europe ministers and meet on friendly terms without having to go through "ice-breaking" formalities every time.

On crossing the border, a friendly young Canadian customs agent smilingly went through the formalities and welcomed us; on returning to our native country, an armed agent barked orders, searched our car and snapped questions.

3) We Write in a Friendly Tone If we're writing for one, we can do away with formality and pretend we're writing for someone we know.

In this sense, the emoticon's juvenile associations may actually work in its favor: Yoo hypothesizes that in the sterile context of a work email, where formality is touted as a way to build professionalism, receiving an emoticon is an unexpected, but welcome, "friendly, emotional and personal" act.