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5 days ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: Relative to the long-standing tradition of men proposing marriage to women, and in this day of slow (but hopefully inexorable) movement toward gender equity, I wonder if the percent of marriage proposals initiated by women has increased. Should it? Sure, it should. In a sensible world, it would hardly matter which half of a couple suggested getting married. But there is nothing sensible about what has happened to marriage proposals.
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1 week ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: A friend and I have a long-standing, semi-joking disagreement, but I do think my behavior bothers her, and I just don’t understand why. We typically meet for dinner. Now, I am not a big dining-out person. I am just not that interested in food. I'm more of an “eat to live” person, if you know what I mean.
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1 week ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: I have a friend, Nora, whom I have known since high school. She now lives in a nearby town, but too far to just make a visit for the day, so when we do get together, it requires a weekend stay for her and her husband. We do get along and enjoy their visit, except for one thing. When I entertain, I like to plan all the meals, snacks, etc., and prepare them in advance so I don't spend a lot of time cooking while they are here.
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1 week ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: I work in an upscale office building in the downtown core. Our building is supposed to be solicitor-free, but on occasion we get walk-in solicitors, companies trying to sell their services and people trying to give resumes. This is both annoying and bothersome. Our office is locked, so these people need to ring or knock to be let in — and then when they come in, I realize they are not clients, but peddlers.
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1 week ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: I was on a flight and sitting in the aisle seat. The middle seat and window seat were occupied by strangers. The plane had landed, and people were standing in the aisle waiting for the door to open. I remained seated, waiting for the aisle to clear. The woman in the window seat reached over and poked me, telling me to stand up. I have severe hearing loss. I wear a hearing aid and an implant.
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1 week ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: It seems more and more of my friends’ young adult children are getting tattoos. Often my friends share the news like the tattoo is some sort of accomplishment and, if the young adult is present, will summon them over to show off the new ink to (presumably) collect compliments. While I don't begrudge others doing what they want with their bodies, I don't have tattoos myself and don't personally understand the appeal.
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1 week ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: As a frequent tourist, I take lots of photos wherever I go. I try not to be intrusive, but it isn’t feasible to ask permission of anonymous people in public spaces, and U.S. courts have ruled that nobody has a right to privacy in such settings. Everyone carries a phone these days, and the number of people taking photos has increased exponentially as a result. Candid photos are much more interesting than posed photos or photos without people.
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2 weeks ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: Our house uses an electronic door code instead of a key and lock. Our relatives know the code, from times when they needed to access our home without us there — for instance, picking up supplies for us while we were in the hospital, or getting to the house before us for a dinner when the weather was bad. Outside of times such as those, when is it acceptable for them to use the code? None times.
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2 weeks ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: Our group of friends is about 15 people large. We have known each other for over three decades. At the opposite end of the group is a couple that we only see when the entire group gets together. We like to entertain, and have invited this couple for years. They have never accepted our invitations, though they accept invitations from others in the group. In some cases, they RSVP “no,” but other times they do not reply at all.
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2 weeks ago | 
washingtonpost.com | Judith Martin |Nicholas Martin |Jacobina Martin
, Nicholas Martin and Jacobina MartinDear Miss Manners: One co-worker likes to host office parties with food-themed potlucks. She will suggest a dish that she will cook and bring to share, such as trays of chicken wings or seafood pasta. Generally a lunch would have eight to 20 people. As she likes to make these meat- or seafood-based dishes, she will then ask for financial contributions to pay for the ingredients and keep her own costs down.
