Miss Manners

I owned Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior by Judith Martin. My daughters read it cover to cover and took it with them when they moved out of my house. So I got another copy at a yard sale. I still get it out occasionally, not when I have questions about politeness, but when I want to laugh. Her rules hinge on the Golden Rule: treat others as you want to be treated, i.e. treated well, and do it politely. I've seen judgmental people and environments; she skewers them thoroughly, by setting rules for behavior that only a troglodyte could consider bad, but which in turn set an expectation that the troglodyte will wipe his nose and his feet and try not to offend. I think it's time for a return to polite behavior, including calling a spade a spade, but calmly, with footnotes.