Dear Miss Manners: My January birthday gets zero fanfare

Dear Miss Manners: My birthday is a few days after the new year. It’s a very easy date to miss altogether in the shadow of ...

Miss Manners: If you adopt my gift-giving philosophy, you’ll never fret about thank-you cards

Gifts, to me, are not a chore and not an obligation. If I get a thank-you card, it is nice, but I do not see any obligation ...

Miss Manners: Help me remember the logic behind this table-setting etiquette

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, [email protected]; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 ...

Miss Manners: Why is everyone so obsessed with being thanked?

Why is it that people see it as mandatory to send a thank-you for a gift? It seems like people give gifts with the sole purpose of being appreciated. This seems contrary to the whole idea of giving a ...

Miss Manners: I tried to fix the birthday problem but my friends didn’t get it

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, [email protected]; ...

Miss Manners: Why are table knives placed with the cutting edge toward the plate?

GENTLE READER: It was to avoid the knives being used to attack fellow diners -- or at least to lessen that possibility.

Miss Manners: Why we turn knives inward

GENTLE READER: It was to avoid the knives being used to attack fellow diners -- or at least to lessen that possibility. Really. In cruder times, if you can imagine such a thing, people brought their ...