Word: misses
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
That show makes No Small Affair enjoyable at first, as Charles and his ever-present camera walk aloof from romance. His brother Leonard (Frenchette) goes through enough girlfriends to make "finance" sound like a synonym for "Miss." Struggling to become something more than a straight (wo)man for Charles's barbs, his mother sticks to her live-in "Uncle" Ken. "I hope you're planning to marry her," Charles tells mom's shaving-cream-adorned amour, "you know it's the only decent thing to do." Uncle Jake calls it Charles's attitude problem, romanties call it cynicism...
...polishing during their 25-year marriage because he was "already perfect when we met, and so was she." If anyone has the temerity to address him as Mr. Manners, says Dr. Martin, "I correct them immediately. I tell them it's Lord Manners, not Mr. Manners." (The name Miss Manners derives from a figure in Victorian English folklore who was originally called Lady Manners. She was conjured up so that when children tried to gobble all the food on the table, they could be ordered to leave a little bit on the plate "for Lady Manners...
...Just as Miss Manners urges, the Martins have reared, educated and nagged at two children, who appear to have acquired flawless manners. "It's amazing how much a parent can terrify a child without actually doing anything," says Nicholas, 18, a freshman at Harvard. Jacobina, 13, plays the harp and studies at a private school in Washington. Once when Martin relayed a prying reporter's request to interview the whole family at home, Jacobina objected, "But mother, I wasn't brought up in that manner...
...column on an IBM word processor. Some of her mail, which may be useful later (she has to work two months in advance), gets saved in wooden trays with such labels as Weddings, Business or Diverse Civilities; other letters receive a standard answer in engraved script on cream paper ("Miss Manners regrets exceedingly...
...those who regard Miss Manners as an eccentric anachronism, Judith Martin has a contemporary answer. "It would be ridiculous to say that manners should be static, and we should return to 1948 and behave like that," she says. "The world changes and develops. There are lots of new situations." She has always been richly prepared for them. Printers at the Post, she recalls, tried to embarrass her years ago by telling off-color stories. "I'd look right at them and say, 'I don't understand it. Could you explain it to me?' Have you ever...