Miss Manners rocks

[telerib]

Miss Manners answers a slightly snarky letter on forms of address for same-sex married couples.

First, she snarks right back.

Second, the advice is perfectly good and carefully accounts for all the usual permutations (sharing last name, or not, preferring Mrs., or Ms.)

Third, in the case of "two men not sharing a last name" she recommends that "each be addressed by his full name with the appropriate honorific (Mr., Dr., Colonel)."

Took me a minute to catch it.

Colonel.

That's a classy and understated way of making a point.

Comments

[hueffmea.livejournal.com]

Yeah that makes sense. I asked Mary about it and she came up with a different but good answer. She believed it was obvious that someone was trying to force Miss Manners into a position of stating her views on Gay Marriage. Mary was saying that Miss Manners by the very nature of her job is one of the keepers of the older ways and thus obviously more concervative. In any case Miss Manners ducks the implied questions entirely and points out gaping flaws in the letter, while answering the question asked.

[telerib.livejournal.com]

I don't know about Miss Manners being more conservative. If she is, she keeps it entirely to herself when answering some of the more "modern" etiquette questions.

She's pretty good about advocating civility and respect for all. So, while she may or may not personally think tattoos are tasteful, she definitely sat on someone who thought that the open display of tattoos was carte blanche for making snide comments about them (7/7/04 column).

The concept of respect for everyone, not just the "right" people, is pretty open-minded and tolerant. That (and her overall tone, which amuses me) is one of the reasons I enjoy her column.