GENTLE READER: Yes. Mourning, which would last at least two years for a widow, proscribed any jewelry except pearls and black onyx, with the only gold permitted being the wedding ring. Everything was ...

I haven’t taken it personally. She’s facing surgery in a few days, and I had the epiphany that an old-fashioned phone call ...

I noticed that every person in line was wearing their pajamas and flip-flops. They all looked like they had just rolled out of bed.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: As a teenager in her first job, I have a good workplace, for the most part. The manager is friendly, and the co-workers are amusing and cooperative. Except one. She is the kind of ...

Do they go to school like this? To work? To church? Where are the boundaries? I am befuddled and feel disrespected.

GENTLE READER: The way to kill a tasteless joke is to take it seriously. So the answer to the dumb-dish remark is, “I’m so sorry it offends you; let me take it from you.” And to the ...

In the moment, I felt that if I said the equivalent of “I like you, too,” it would seem like I was only saying it because she ...