Never mind that she has been on a whirlwind book tour and that Chicago is as humid as the Amazon. Miss Manners is the picture of serenity — with charm-school posture and not a single bead of perspiration marring her upper lip — even when she heatedly talks about the erosion of civility.
For those who think etiquette is the stuff of napkins and silverware, a glimpse at her new book, “Miss Manners Rescues Civilization” (Crown, $30) should set the record straight.
Manners (a k a Judith Martin) tackles such ’90s issues as sexual harassment, the Internet, interminable waits in doctors offices and bigotry. (“When sitting next to a professed homophobic at a dinner party, must one make polite conversation?”).
When the etiquette doyenne takes aim at a target, it is always with a generous dollop of wit. Take, for example, “food fusses,” those guests who announce what they disapprove of: “Miss Manners is not unsympathetic . . . to allergies and preferences. But enough is enough. She can no longer tolerate people talking when their mouths ought to be full.”
Today, she is nettled by chronic latecomers, who explain their tardiness as part of their “stress-free” lifestyle.
“What it says is `We’re not going to take other people’s feelings into consideration. We can’t be stressed, but it’s OK to impose anxiety on you.’ Courtesy means adjusting your own desires and if you want to live in a community, that’s the basic bargain. You can lead a stress-free existence, but only if you’re prepared to be a total hermit.”
