Each week, Miss Manners answers questions exclusively from the MSN audience on all of your etiquette dilemmas. (Have an issue you want help with? Send in a question today.) Read on for this week's hot topics:
DEAR MISS MANNERS,
When I eat spaghetti I do twirl it on the fork, but always there seems to be a stray piece that doesn't stay twirled, and is hanging down loose. What do I do with this? Is it ok to bite it off and let it drop discreetly? It seems disgusting to suck it in like a straw.
GENTLE READER,
Especially if there are sound effects, always a bad idea at the dinner table.
Fortunately, there are other methods. Unfortunately, they don't always work. But Miss Manners believes pasta to be worth the effort.
If the straying strand is reasonably short, you may be able to get it into the mouth by rotating the fork imperceptibly, or by using the fork to take the straggler to your mouth after the bundled strands are safely inside. Long strands should be dealt with before approaching the mouth by cutting them with the exposed tip of the fork. Not easy.
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DEAR MISS MANNERS,
The vast majority of my friends and family have started families. Now every time I see them, the question is asked: "When are you having kids?"
My husband and I have been married for several years, and in fact have started down that road. However, I strongly believe that it is none of anyone else's business to ask about our "habits in the bedroom." How do I politely answer without tipping them off that we may or may not be trying?
GENTLE READER,
Do you promise Miss Manners that you will say this pleasantly? Then you can say, "Well, there are still a few discreet people left who haven't yet asked us that question. Do you think we should wait and give them a chance?
Judith Martin's latest book is No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice. She is also the author ofMiss Manners' Guide toExcruciatingly Correct Behavior(Freshly Updated). She and her husband, a scientist and playwright, live in Washington, D.C. They have two perfect children, of course.
