Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium (Paperback)

~ (Author) "So many traditional opportunities for smutty giggles have disappeared from society..." (more)
Key Phrases: etiquette problem, social harassment, oyster fork, Miss Manners, United States, White House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Martin, aka syndicated columnist "Miss Manners," here covers everything one might need to know about proper behavior, not just for the coming millennium, but in everyday life in the present decade. In a Q & A format interspersed with short essays on manners, mores and her personal peeves, she deals with the gamut of social situations, from AIDS ("receiving an incurable disease because one does not want to risk offending someone with a question seems excessive") to nude weddings, telephone answering machines ("the modern equivalent of the butler"), the "spinach-on-the-tooth rule" ("draw something unfavorable to a person's attention only if it can easily be fixed") and the correct response to negative literary criticism ("the etiquette obligation in such cases is on the friends and supporters of the wounded author"). Miss Manners's remarkably sane advice and admonitions, written in the third person and addressed to "Gentle Reader," are entertaining as well as practical.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Kirkus Reviews How thoughtful of Miss Manners to provide us with this useful, almost encyclopedic guide to proper manners for the fin de siècle...Elegant, sensible, exquisitely funny, Miss Manners...leads us through the dark forest of social despair and into the sunny glade of correctness. -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Fireside; 1st Fireside Ed edition (November 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067172228X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671722289
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #108,177 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly delightful!, December 15, 2004

By	Lucy the Bargain Hunter - See all my reviews

Incredibly entertaining. Judith Martin writes about serious topics with brilliant wit, charm, and humor. This book covers a wide variety of relevant topics, and even the ones that may not apply directly to you still are useful in conveying and emphacising the basic principles of manners. This book is helping me to gain clarity on what rudeness is, what politeness is, and on how to respond appropriately. This book is 700+ pages, so be prepared for a long-term relationship (if you intend to finish this book - which I do - at which point I will probably return to the beginning to start reading it over again). I can say this book is changing my life - and my children may at THIS time regret to say that it is changing theirs - but it is ultimately for the better (I intend to raise gentlemen and ladies)!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anything with Miss Manners' name on it is a keeper, February 27, 2001

By	tmp "snippy reviewer" (Solar System, MA USA) - See all my reviews

No- one is better at answering the questions as to what is correct in a humourous (and enteraining) way as Judith Martin is. You can buy these guides as guides for life or as just fun and entertaining reads; take the advice, or just enjoy the ride- this may be the Sally Jesse Raphael for the genteel- and I mean that in the best way possible.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, October 20, 1999

By A Customer

I pick this book up every year or so, both for the vast wealth of knowledge and for the entertainment value. Material not covered in the question and answer format is cleary explained elsewhere in the chapter. I consider this book a necessary reference.