Tag Archives: manners

From Steven Petrow’s NYT column Civil Behavior: Q: My wife and I each gave birth to one of our two children, born a year apart, using the same donor. We then legally adopted each other’s biological child. We are both loving, committed parents to both children, who are now 10 and 11 – we’re a family. Still, my in-laws clearly …

From the New York Times gay advice column Civil Behavior: Dear Civil Behavior: My niece has been dating a young man for about a year and I expect I’ll soon be receiving a wedding invitation. Lately I have been thinking that I will politely decline to attend, even though I’m fond of my niece and very close to my sister …

You’d think people would know these things. Sadly, no.

Source. (Via JMG reader Dave)

New York Philharmonic conductor Alan Gilbert brought Mahler’s Ninth to a screeching halt when an audience member allowed his iPhone to continue ringing. The iPhone marimba ring kept going — and going — until concertgoers pointed out the area where the guilty party sat, a witness said. Finally, a man reached into his pocket and turned off the phone. Gilbert …

Upstreaming is the tactic of walking past the person who has been waiting for a cab longer than you have. It’s also the cause of a lot of late night street fights. But according to one etiquette expert, upstreaming is sometimes permissible. From Henry Alford’s new book: That New Yorkers cut in lines and steal cabs is not, on the …

“The truth is not always pleasant; it is often scalding. In Nathaniel, Jesus saw someone willing to acknowledge what was true, even if it exposed him as imperfect-in-love—as are we all. If, as is generally agreed, there is freedom in naming a thing for what it is, then there can only be oppression in refusing to do so, all for …

A public service message from NYC artist Jay Shells’ “Metropolitan Etiquette Authority.” More signs at the link.

(Source)

My loyal companion Aaron tips us to a piece in the New York Times titled A Letter From London, in which an Englishman says that we’re really not so bad. It’s worth the entire read, but here’s a short excerpt: When I finally got to America myself, I found that not only were the natives friendly and hospitable, they were …