This is Etiquette Monster, Jezebel’s advice column where senior writer Madeleine Davies gets worked up and starts screaming about manners. Have a question about etiquette? Email Madeleine at your own risk.
There may come a time when you want to strike up a conversation with a stranger, for whatever reason: sex, companionship, money, boredom. Here is the rule: You get two questions.
It’s no secret that weddings now often cost more than a French chateau, so it’s understandable that some newlyweds would be annoyed by guests canceling at the last minute. No matter how upset a bride and groom are, however, there’s absolutely no excuse to send absent guests a bill for their dinner. But apparently no…
On Friday morning, the Washington Post published an op-ed by Danielle Larkins, a mother and freelance writer who is shocked that children have stopped calling parents by their last names.
Weddings are slow cookers full of potential agitation, wherein family, friends, finances, and fiancés all come together during months of planning and mingle together to create a terrible-tasting mess. Nine times out of ten, this nonsense actually isn’t about the wedding itself. In fact, the more complicated the fuss,…
If you’ve ever dared to utter the “W”-word in conversation with a group of 20-somethings in a major American metropolis, chances are you’ve opened the door to an onslaught of stock responses. Pew-pew-pew! Like little silver BBs they fly out of people’s mouths, these most disparaging opinions about weddings, aimed not…
Being in someone’s wedding is a special privilege. It’s also often a ton of work and includes paying more money than one expected for clothes, bachelorette parties, and other assorted wedding activities. And it’s also frequently time-consuming and an emotional commitment (especially if the bride becomes difficult)…
Benedict Cumberbatch, the dreamy personification of an English accent, is currently starring in a production of Hamlet at London’s Barbican Centre. When movie stars take to the stage, theaters often see an influx of people (read: teenagers) who wouldn’t usually view plays and musicals as worthwhile sources of…
We’re only halfway through the wedding season and I don’t think we’re going to make it unless we all just take a step back and fucking chill the fuck out. I get it: The summer heat, coupled with open bars and reception halls, makes us do strange things. But there’s no reason a wedding should ever end with a bridesmaid…
In news that could be an Onion headline if only the actual world weren’t so bent on punking us, a 47-year-old self described “happily married” man laments recent developments in his public appeal: He no longer turns the heads of women on the street. He seeks options. We can help.
This is Dear Fancy, Jezebel’s advice column about non-fussy modern etiquette.
Are adult-only weddings selfish? Are weddings with kids lame? Before we even try to answer that, I’ve got a more pressing concern: Approximately 99 percent of the time I’m invited to a wedding, I can’t even tell if it’s OK to bring my kid or not, so I have to spend extra time and effort deciding whether or not I…
When a woman’s Facebook relationship status switches to “engaged,” the comments that ensue are pretty predictable. There are OMGs, congratulations, the ring emoji, the couple-holding-hands emoji, the smiley-face-with-hearts-in-place-of-eyes emoji... You get the picture.
A lot of things need to conspire all at once to find yourself staring down this particular etiquette question, but for most of us it will happen at least once, if not plenty: You will be staying at a friend’s place with a boyfriend, girlfriend or partner—or meet someone new on the town whilst returning home to a…
It’s time we have an honest discussion about why you people don’t know how to fucking behave. Let’s talk about tact: a noble virtue, a lost virtue, a very necessary virtue. Long gone, it seems, are the days when tact was common, or in which people behaved with thoughtfulness, discretion, and sensitivity. Long gone is…
Nasty Gal founder and noted #GIRLBOSS Sophia Amoruso is worth $250 million. She’s also a bride-to-be and, in going through all the assorted motions, has assembled an impressive gift registry. Ah, yes: Rich people love asking people to buy them more rich-people things.
A month ago, I was at my best friend’s wedding and joked to my partner about how funny it would be if we took a moment during the reception to propose to each other. We laughed and laughed and laughed. And then we checked to make sure that no one had been sent to kill us. Because no one even thinks about fucking up…
In four days (and three nights), I fell in love with Paris. It was my first time in Europe and I happily became a cliché. But it wouldn’t be a real vacation if I didn’t sully it with a trivial predicament: How was I supposed to effectively stunt on Instagram without appearing obnoxious?
The ongoing campaign to combat manspreading and other offenses isn't the MTA's first attempt to encourage polite behavior on public transit. Did you know that back in the early 60s, the subways were once plastered with admonitions from "Etti-Cat"?
On Tuesday, we asked for your thoughts on firing someone from a bridal party—and you did not hold back. A few themes emerged among the responses, namely that if you remove someone from your wedding party you should also be prepared to remove them from your life. From a distance, that's pretty obvious but it's probably…
