This column is very strict about
these things. Not alone. Not for a moment. It is better
taste to bring your father with you.
Auction asks:
In playing bridge please tell me whether the third or
the second player ought to discard from weakness on a
long suit when trumps have been twice round and the lead
is with dummy.
Answer: Certainly.
Lady of Society asks:
Can you tell me whether the widow of a marquis is entitled
to go in to dinner before the eldest daughter of an earl?
Answer: Ha! ha! This is a thing we know--something that
we _do_ know. You put your foot in it when you asked us
that. We have _lived_ this sort of thing too long ever
to make any error. The widow of a marquis, whom you should
by rights call a marchioness dowager (but we overlook
it--you meant no harm) is entitled (in any hotel that we
know or frequent) to go in to dinner whenever, and as
often, as she likes. On a dining-car the rule is the
other way.
Vassar Girl asks:
What is the date of the birth of Caracalla?
Answer: I couldn't say.
Lexicographer asks:
Can you tell me the proper way to spell "dog"?
Answer: Certainly. "Dog" should be spelt, properly and
precisely, "dog." When it is used in the sense to mean
not "_a_ dog" or "_one_ dog" but two or more dogs--in
other words what we grammarians are accustomed to call
the plural--it is proper to add to it the diphthong, _s_,
pronounced with a hiss like _z_ in soup.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185