Miss Manners: I have nicer things than my friends. Is it rude to wear them?

[ermingarden]

Dear Miss Manners: I’ve known my current friends since college — over 25 years. These days, my income is much greater than theirs.

I bought a luxury watch, car and other expensive goods, but I never wear or use them when I’m with my friends, who do not have such things. I’d like to wear my watch, but don’t want to flaunt my income or be a jerk. What is the proper etiquette?( Read more... )

Ask Evie: I'm a sucky friend and you're a sucky columnist, can I have sucky advice?

[jadelennox]

This is from Evie, Peter Thiel's women's magazine. Therefore the link is via Wayback, and the letter and advice are cut for transphobia.

( transphobia and also just wtfery )

(no subject)

[conuly]

Last year, my parents told me they were getting a divorce after over 25 years of marriage. My mother was filing; my dad still wanted to work things out. I, myself, had just married the month before, and my wife is close with my parents. Their divorce was devastating news for us both at a time that was supposed to be joyful.

My mother is, by nature, a private person. Aside from “It just didn’t work out” and “It was a mistake,” she offered few details.

Naturally, I’ve questioned my mother at length about her reasons for the divorce. In total, I’ve probably spent more than 12 hours asking her questions. While I’ve gotten a few concrete answers about how she felt in the marriage, for most of my questions she either wouldn’t answer or would give some ambiguous response. Or she would blame my father for things that happened 20 years ago. Other answers I received: “That’s between your dad and me,” “That’s not something you need to know” and, my favorite, “That’s not really your business.” I still don’t have a clear sense of why my mother wanted a divorce in the first place. On the other hand, my father has been very open about his mistakes throughout their marriage and what he wishes he had done differently.

Is my parents’ divorce really none of my business? I’m close with both of them and lived in the family home through the five-month divorce process while my wife and I were preparing to move across the country for my job. We had a front-row seat to what was happening. Divorce can be a traumatic event for children, no matter how old they are, and being kept in the dark certainly doesn’t help. Name Withheld

( Read more... )