[.ca] Miss Manners Guide To Excruciatingly Correct Behaviour (ISBN 0393058743)

From Amazon.com:
Miss Manners' down-to-earth collection of wisdom and pithy wit is a joy to read. Under the chapter on Table Manners, she notes "the inevitable slippage of spaghetti from the fork back onto the plate is Nature's way of controlling human piggishness" and suggests "a quick motion of the wrist, such as one uses to shake down a thermometer, will remove excess ketchup" from French fries. From common courtesy and proper attire to the etiquette of weddings, Martin knows right from wrong and sensible from rude. But this is no prissy, preachy tome. Miss Manners is very funny and has impressive insight into life.

Excrutiating reading:
I am probably just a rude and awful person, but I find this book excrutiating to read. I bought it a few years ago as a "handy reference". I have read a few things in the book that were amusing, but I think the manners and suggested etiquette are dated from late 19th-very early 20th century! There are references in the book to women "rushing home for lunch hour from work to give a tea"! Anyone with a real job would not find a way to do this. She also suggests anyone who does not think there is a difference between serving guests with silver vs. stainless steel utensils is "not ready to be married". Well, I apologize if I cannot AFFORD to buy silver just to have a few friends over, nor do I have have any family with enough money to afford to buy me silver as a wedding gift! And-she checks wedding invitations with her finger to make sure they are properly engraved-what kind of sick person does that??!! Is it so bad to send very nice invitations with thermographed lettering and envelopes printed with a nice font instead of engraved and paying a calligrapher to address envelopes? I don't follow a lot of what I have read in the book and I don't think I could handle being friends with people who did. They would make me feel very uncomfortable all the time.

Miss Manners Rocks:
This book is truly awesome. Not only is it totally hilarious, but it also answers all kinds of questions you never even thought of asking (including some that nobody thought of asking, LOL), and some that have been on your mind for ages. Ms. Martin's wicked humor alone makes it well worth the cost!

A wonderful guide for those embarassing moments in life...:
We have all had embarassing moments in life, not due to our mistakes alone, but due to ignorance of etiquette. How do you talk about your live-in arrangement? Serious yet funny answers to answer several questions like these. It takes the place of a grandfather/grandmother if you don't have one to ask such questions of social behavior.