DEAR MISS MANNERS: After my summer birthday, I mailed my thank-you notes for all the gifts I received. And because I had purchased too many stamps for last year's holiday cards, I have been using the surplus postage for the past few months so as to not be wasteful.
Imagine my chagrin when a few thank-you note recipients gently chided me for using poinsettia stamps in the summertime. Miss Manners, was it in poor taste for me to use "seasonally inappropriate" stamps for my personal correspondence?
GENTLE READER: Wrong question. Was it in poor taste, however jocular the intention, for your correspondents to complain about the stamps? For goodness' sake, do they know how often people do not receive any thanks at all for their presents?
That some people enjoy coordinating stamps with occasions, Miss Manners knows. Evidently you did so last winter. But this should not obscure the fact that stamps are the currency by which postage is paid. Do these people object if they are given bills on Presidents' Day that picture the wrong president?
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a running disagreement with my wife. Is it OK to use the side of your fork as a knife to cut food from time to time? Must one always use a knife to cut?
GENTLE READER: When spouses disagree, Miss Manners always hopes to find a solution that gives each some claim to being right. It is her little contribution to saving marriages.
However, you alone are right. For mysterious reasons having to do with the history of flatware, the fork, although adopted centuries after the knife, is considered the preferable instrument to use when possible. The most she can do for your wife is to say that if cutting with a fork is so ineffective as to splash the resisting food about, the knife should be used.
Responding to a thank you note to chastise the sender about the kind of postage stamps one uses?
Arguing about using a fork instead of knife to cut some foods? Although, maybe he was wrestling with a piece of meat with his fork when he could have just picked up a knife. You never about men...
It seems people can no longer live their lives without checking with some advice column about the most trivial things. No wonder the fat sandwich thread was such fun.
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“Until I discovered cooking, I was never really interested in anything.” ― Julia Child ―
She should only use out of season stamps from now on.
Sit back and watch the heads spin.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I would have a hard time being friends with someone who had an issue with the stamp. Sounds stupid but if they're that hung up over a simple stamp I'd hate to see what they do about the bigger issues.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
I would have a hard time being friends with someone who had an issue with the stamp. Sounds stupid but if they're that hung up over a simple stamp I'd hate to see what they do about the bigger issues.
How many people even send thank you notes??? Be grateful for THAT.
I would have a hard time being friends with someone who had an issue with the stamp. Sounds stupid but if they're that hung up over a simple stamp I'd hate to see what they do about the bigger issues.
How many people even send thank you notes??? Be grateful for THAT.
flan
That's pretty much what I was thinking.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
Supposedly putting a stamp on upside down means you love the person.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
So what about those return address labels you get for free from charities hoping to get you to donate since they sent you a free "gift". Do you feel bad about using them without donating to the charity? I don't. I probably have a 10 year supply of the suckers.
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Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
So what about those return address labels you get for free from charities hoping to get you to donate since they sent you a free "gift". Do you feel bad about using them without donating to the charity? I don't. I probably have a 10 year supply of the suckers.
I have a ton too. I figure I have so many because I donate, so I don't feel bad at all.
So what about those return address labels you get for free from charities hoping to get you to donate since they sent you a free "gift". Do you feel bad about using them without donating to the charity? I don't. I probably have a 10 year supply of the suckers.
No, I don't feel bad. I didn't solicit them, they solicited me. And, besides, what are you going to do with them anyway? Throw them away? How does that somehow benefit them if you throw them away after they already made them?
So what about those return address labels you get for free from charities hoping to get you to donate since they sent you a free "gift". Do you feel bad about using them without donating to the charity? I don't. I probably have a 10 year supply of the suckers.
No, I don't feel bad. I didn't solicit them, they solicited me. And, besides, what are you going to do with them anyway? Throw them away? How does that somehow benefit them if you throw them away after they already made them?
So what about those return address labels you get for free from charities hoping to get you to donate since they sent you a free "gift". Do you feel bad about using them without donating to the charity? I don't. I probably have a 10 year supply of the suckers.
No, I don't feel bad. I didn't solicit them, they solicited me. And, besides, what are you going to do with them anyway? Throw them away? How does that somehow benefit them if you throw them away after they already made them?
Besides, the whole point is to guilt you into giving, and that's WRONG.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
Supposedly putting a stamp on upside down means you love the person.
OH gosh I have certainly been sending mixed messages to my trash company, in fact I must be totally infatuated, as I sometimes address the envelope and discover IT is upside down. who knew I was such a floozy all this time~!
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~~Four Wheels Move the Body~~ ~~ Two Wheels Move the Soul~~
Supposedly putting a stamp on upside down means you love the person.
OH gosh I have certainly been sending mixed messages to my trash company, in fact I must be totally infatuated, as I sometimes address the envelope and discover IT is upside down. who knew I was such a floozy all this time~!
Where is my shocked face? LOL I'm in the floozy club!
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I drink coffee so I don't kill you.
I quilt so I don't kill you.
Do you see a theme?
Faith isn't something that keeps bad things from happening. Faith is what helps us get through bad things when they do happen.