October 11, 2004
On the Importance of Knowing What's Important
Scott Marley points us to Sunday's column by Miss Manners [scroll to the bottom of page 2]:
Dear Miss Manners:Posted by abostick at October 11, 2004 06:34 PMOn only a few days' notice, I was married in February to a wonderful woman. Having not had time to properly invite friends and family to our nuptials, and since we already had been living together for 14 years, we didn't expect to receive gifts.
Nevertheless, we did receive many wonderful cards and calls of congratulations, and a few relatives did send us thoughtful gifts. Of course we promptly wrote them thank-you notes and telephoned them to show our sincere appreciation. Unfortunately, a decision by the California Supreme Court voided our marriage, along with the marriages of approximately 4,000 other same-gender couples.
What is the proper etiquette with respect to keeping or returning these special gifts now that the court has forced us to untie the knot?
Wedding presents may be properly accepted during the couple's engagement, and need only be returned if they no longer wish to be married. You have, after all, met Miss Manners's basic and non-negotiable requirement: You wrote thank-you letters.
Surely either you or Mr. Marley has unintentionally misquoted Miss Manners. I feel confident that such a paragon of both manners and precise language would never make as glaring an error in subject/verb agreement as we see above. How is the happy couple to know when their wedding presents no longer wish to be married?
I cut and pasted the excerpt directly from its source in the Washington Post.
*sigh*
It is one more example of the crisis of standards in American journalism.
Posted by: Alan Bostick at October 11, 2004 09:15 PM
