Category: Manners and Mores
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Propinquity and Politeness
Treat your family members with the same respect as you would strangers. Unfortunately, propinquity militates against politeness. Conservatives understand that a certain formality in our relations with others, both within and without the family, helps maintain respect. Formality helps keep in check the contempt bred of familiarity.
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More on Tipping: A Server Weighs in with Insights and Advice
Long-time reader R. B. sends us his thoughts: I appreciated your post. I am on the other side of the coin: I am a server and I depend on tips to help get me through nursing school. So hopefully I can help bring some insight. I agree with your overall point that one ought to…
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On Tipping
Here, in no particular order, are my maxims concerning the practice of tipping. 1. He who is too cheap to leave a tip in a restaurant should cook for himself. That being said, there is no legal obligation to tip, nor should there be. Is there a moral obligation? Perhaps. Rather than argue that there…
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Word of the Day: Costive
Merriam-Webster: 1a: affected with constipation b: causing constipation 2: slow in action or expression 3: not generous : STINGY Where did I find it? In a fine analysis of the concept of charm by Joseph Epstein. Here is a taste that features the word under definition: Some people I talked with thought charm was synonymous with “cool.” In fact, the two,…
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A Liberal’s Notion of Self-Restraint
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An Allegation is All it Takes
WashPo: A Democratic candidate hoping to flip a hotly contested congressional seat in Kansas has dropped out of the race after allegations that she sexually harassed a male subordinate resurfaced during her campaign. Not only does the Left eats its own, being a female lefty won't save you.
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Hugh Hefner’s Legacy
Here: Divorce, broken homes, bankruptcy, generations of children raised by a single parent, sexually-transmitted diseases, addiction, AIDs, early death, loneliness, despair, guilt, spiritual ruin, and 58 million innocent children butchered in the one place they should be safest, in their own mother’s womb. Read it all. I am not clear, however, how the libertarian opening…
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Camille Paglia on Hugh Hefner
Here: Hugh Hefner absolutely revolutionized the persona of the American male. In the post-World War II era, men's magazines were about hunting and fishing or the military, or they were like Esquire, erotic magazines with a kind of European flair. Hefner reimagined the American male as a connoisseur in the continental manner, a man who enjoyed…
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Inappropriate Automotive Niceness
Most of us prefer nice people to surly pricks. And no doubt we should all try to be nicer to our world-mates. But there is such a thing as inappropriate niceness. Here are two automotive examples for your consideration. I am following at a safe distance the motorist in front of me. Then said motorist…
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The Lou Reed Ruckus
Can one take a walk on the wild side in a safe space? Apparently not. Related articles The Decline of the West Proceeds Apace A Case Against Withdrawal The Age of Feeling or the Age of Pussies?
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The Message of Visible Tattoos
All visible tattoos deliver the same message: I am not interested in being hired for any position that involves interacting with the public. Tattoos on the neck and face deliver the message in capital letters. Time was when tattoos were found mainly only among the demimonde of grifters, members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, rough trade,…
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Mirabile Dictu: Irish Reader Finds New Yorkers Civil and Friendly
London Karl, an Irish resident of London, checks in with this update: I'm just back from my first ever trip to America. Only New York, which I am reliably informed is representative of nothing other than itself, but I was touched and impressed by the civility and friendliness I encountered. People there are way friendlier…
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Is There Any Place for Gentlemen in Post-Consensus Politics?
We are in the age of post-consensus politics. We Americans don't agree on much of anything any more. As our politics comes more and more to resemble warfare, the warrior comes more and more to replace the gentleman. Here is the best description of a gentleman I have encountered: The True Gentleman is the man…
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Sweat, Perspire, Glow
It was a hot and humid September day, twenty years ago. I was sitting in a restaurant in Wuhan, China. There had been a power outage, so the air conditioning was off. The lady next to me was perspiring profusely. I somewhat crudely drew attention to the fact probably using some such expression as 'sweating bullets.'…
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Be Gracious
Does someone want to do something for you? Buy you lunch? Give you a gift? Bring something to the dinner? Be gracious. Don't say, "You don't have to buy me lunch," or "Let me buy you lunch," or "You didn't have to bring that." Humbly accept and grant the donor the pleasure of being a…