Pushy Waiters Should Put a Cork in It

Phones are so smart now, we've stopped calling altogether

(NEWSER) - Smartphones are the most important accessories in our lives, good for doing just about anything—except actually calling people, writes Pamela Paul in the New York Times . In fact, phone use in general is way down over the past five years, reports Paul, so much so that when her phone rings and it isn't her mom or a couple of close friends, her first thought is to panic. “'What’s happened? What’s wrong?,'" she says. "My second thought is: 'Isn’t it weird to just call like that? Out of the blue? With no emailed warning?'" More»

In our Internet age, it's too intimate for some, too formal for others

(NEWSER) - Dear reader: If starting your correspondence with the word “dear” seems just a bit too familiar to use, you’re not alone. The long-penned salutation appears to be headed for extinction, thanks in part to the proliferation of informal communication like email, the Wall Street Journal reports. Even one spokesperson for a member of Congress, who tries to keep her communications with the press at “the utmost and highest level of professionalism,” won’t use “dear” because it’s “too intimate,” she says. What does she use instead? “Hey, folks.” More»

Sorry, but no, you shouldn't approach rude strangers

(NEWSER) - Sarah Lorge Butler cannot believe she needs to remind us of this, but “it’s not polite to use a BlackBerry or iPhone at the table. Ever,” she writes for CBS . After running into two situations—one involving a friend, the other a stranger—in which she wanted to confront the offending “CrackBerry” addict, she went to Peter Post, director of the Emily Post Institute, for advice. When it comes to strangers, he warns, best not to say anything at all. More»

For one thing, no dancing

(NEWSER) - Looking to impress your future in-laws at a fancy dinner out? Follow John Mariani’s 39 steps for how to dine out like a gentleman, from Esquire :

• "A gentleman never has more than one cocktail before dinner."
• "A gentleman never takes more than one minute to decide on his meal."
• "A gentleman never talks about golf with women present."
• "A gentleman never drinks beer from a bottle at a restaurant."

And should we mourn its passing, or just suck it up?

(NEWSER) - Matt Zoller Seitz has a problem with "no problem." The phrase has replaced "you're welcome" about as definitively as cars replaced the horse and buggy, and it irks him "to an extent that cannot be captured in print without the use of capital letters, boldface, italics and multiple exclamation points." So here's the issue, in plain, cranky English: "The phrase implies an imposition on the part of the person saying, 'Thank you.'" Replying "no problem" is basically code for, "What I did for you was not the sacrifice you so charmingly believe it to be," he writes for Salon . More»