Miss Manners

Pregnancy is a time for happiness, serenity, and discovery, as well as a time for inappropriate tummy touching and over sharing by friends and relatives. Is it acceptable to give parenting advice to your daughter-in-law? To a stranger on the bus? Must one endure co-worker baby showers? Entertaining as well as brutally honest, Miss Manners likens pregnant women to low-tier celebrities, and offers not advice but pronouncements on the proper etiquette of behavior to and by moms-to-be in this e-book original. Winner of the National Humanities Medal for her social discourse in etiquette, Miss Manners transforms respectful behavior into a tool for everyday life. Go ahead and let your mother-in-law visit the hospital when the baby is born and resist correcting your best friend when she nicknames your unborn child "Nat-Nat." After all, Miss Manners reminds us, in a few months, you may need a babysitter.

Miss Manners proclaims a text message to be an electronic equivalent of a Post-it note and about as "serious in nature as the hastily written note passed in class." Gone are the days when conversing with people meant being in the same room as them, and with those days went established etiquette of communication. Can one apologize with a text message? Offer condolences? Propose marriage? Use text messages as invitations? Helpful, humorous, and at times biting, Miss Manners, winner of the National Humanities Medal for her social discourse in the importance of and effects of etiquette in American society, gives straightforward advice on all these quandaries and more. "Being seen or heard to be texting is equally rude when in the presence of live people," declares Miss Manners, who is not stating her opinion, but making a pronouncement. It's not too late for technology and civility to coexist, and in this e-book exclusive, Miss Manners leads the way with a call to texting etiquette.

American society has it in for growing old. Common phrases such as "Never trust anyone over 30!" and accusations such as "You make me feel old!" imply living a long life is an embarrassment. Miss Manners suggests Americans re-examine their reasoning and leave misplaced vanity at the door. She responds with wit and wisdom to "Gentle Reader" queries and anecdotes revolving around the proper way to give and receive respect in this e-book original, On Unabashed Aging. Can one offer his or her seat on public transportation without offending? Or carry an elder's groceries? Is first name basis acceptable for superiors? Miss Manners does not simply offer her opinion, she makes pronouncements that both instruct and provoke her readers. An advocate for proper etiquette, Miss Manners applies the principles of manners to new circumstances and newly enlightened ideas. Avoid inadvertently offending your betters, and listen to Miss Manners as she proclaims the rules of respect humorously and judiciously.

From how to connect when we're physically distant to the most effective way to advocate for better public health practices in your community (hint: it is not by yelling at jogging neighbors), Miss Manners guides readers through the unprecedented circumstances of the current global pandemic with humanity and wit.