Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Manner/Manor

The correct phrase is "to the manner born" not "to the manor born". It comes from Hamlet:

But to my mind--though I am native here,
And to the manner born--it is a custom
More honor'd in the the breach than the observance.

It's easy to see why the two are confused. The words sound the same and although Hamlet was expressing his distaste with the local tendency towards drunkeness, it is most often used now to describe someone born to wealth or privilege (someone who could have been born in a manor).

You can use it when you are talking about someone who follows local/family tradition or instead of saying, "it's in his genes".