European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10odds amp ends miss Mannke Judith Mah i in dear miss manners when someone brings Sweet Rolls to work is it proper to Cut them up and leave halves quarters or eighths on the plate gentle Reader those who bring Sweet Rolls to work should not be quartered Mueh less Eig thed. They Are Only being Nice. As Lor the Rolls themselves they May certainly be Cut into portions. Miss manners would like to Point out that leaving an untouched portion is More considerate than leaving seven eighths of a Bun with a bite missing and producing an unpleasant impression of sugar overload. Dear miss manners i am blessed with a wife both charming and lovable with a reputation for impeccable manners. As a certified boor i habitually cover the Telephone receiver when asking my loved one her feelings about invitations for social activities Etc. She on the other hand communicates similar information without any pretext of privacy. Divorce seems the Only was unless you can solve our problem. Gentle Reader do we have a manners problem Here or a technological one does your wife think it appropriate for prospective hosts to hear her reactions to their invitations hut then you did mention that the lady has impeccable manners. Perhaps her a a feelings consist of statements to which a Host could listen with equanimity a How wonderful a Tell him wed love to Quot or a ooh dear a in a heartbroken that we can t make it that  however if there is a danger of these feelings taking such forms As a do we have to Quot or "1 Don t think i can face that Quot then you Are right and the Telephone must be covered. Dear miss manners my daughter was invited to a going away party for one of her friends Given by another Friend. The hostess Wasny to going to be around on her own birthday two months later so on the Day before the going away party she told everyone to take along two gifts. There was no birthday cake at the parly and the guest of Honor had to Supply the dinner food. Am i the Only person seeing something wrong Here it seems to me that the hostess was More concerned for herself. Gentle Reader funny miss manners noticed that too. And she was t there any More than you were. What seems Odd to her is that anyone was. This party was not a Given Quot a ordering the guest of Honor to Supply the food and the other guests to take along presents makes it a mockery. Did the guests not know that invitations May be declined As Well As accepted dear miss manners my husband and i were married in 1988 at a courthouse. Do the groomsmen match the Groom As far As tails Are concerned does the brides father have to match can tails be worn in the morning does the Flower girl match the bridesmaids gentle Reader it seems to miss manners that the style of the wedding is decided before the wedding is held rather than afterwards but some seem to feel that everyone is entitled to at least one formal wedding and can collect it at any time during the marriage. If your family and friends Are willing to sit still for this miss manners is not going to object. Oxford Gray coals with tails Are worn with striped trousers to formal daytime weddings. The evening version is Black the less formal evening suit sometimes called a Tuxedo is also Black and worn in the evening the gentlemen of the bridal party should dress alike but variations in the clothing of the female attendants within the same style Range is not Only proper but often More charming than a uniform look. But if the Flower girl protests that she d rather Wear Blue jeans and a to shirt miss manners Hopes you will Tell her a cautionary tale. United feature Syndicate horoscopes aquarius Jan do fcb 18 you Are coming into a yearly Cycle of change birthdays Are great clays Lor reflection Pisces feb 19-March do your mood is re Tang in nature be like the hear in Winter and hibernate Aries March d1 Panl 19 bust out of your conservative Modi and do something wild and exciting Taurus Panl do May do get ready to go full Speed ahead in advancing your career pull out the stops gemini May i june do Stait making lab Uiato plans to get away on a special trip abroad cancer june d1 july do collect receipts and records of expend Luies your attention should turn toward getting Vigani de for taxes Leo i ily do aug do spend time doing spec my tilings with of Pait Nei visit a museum of see a play Virgo aug do dept do it s the time of year when you should get a checkup and begin exercising. Libra sept d3-oct 22 romantic encounters Are highlighted amuse yourself with the Chase remember it s How you play the game Scorpio oct d3-nov 21 Home and family matters need adjustments you May want to redecorate a room Sagittarius nov 2d-dec 20 catch up on All your recent correspondence any writing you do will How Capricorn dec d1-Jan 19 right now you do not have the financial backing to control the situation be patient Copley Nav  is Nice but what is it Worth Erma Bombeck i have several reactions when i hear people introduce me As a speaker. Sometimes the accolades Are so glowing that i done to even recognize myself. I figure Mother Teresa just flew in to give the invocation. Other times i feel like bolting while in a still ahead. But most of the time i feel As though the Only decent thing i can do to justify such a tribute is to die. Occasionally i allow myself to take a look at the audience and try to figure out if they believe any of it. After years of listening to my own Bio a which is embarrassingly flattering because i wrote it a i would like to propose a new wrinkle to introductions. Instead of listing a speaker s successes Why not list his failures i m serious. Quot tonight s speaker needs an introduction or i  be standing Here in a rented Tuxedo and shoes the wrong Width. Born average our guest tonight never Rose above it. At Ohio University her guidance Counselor advised her to go into anything but journalism. Quot at age 17, when Queen  had her own country she was writing a column for s3 a week for an Ohio weekly. When her first Book came out she toured with it. In Columbus Ohio she sold the desk she was sitting at and directed six people to the restroom. Quot her first and last comedy album. The futility that plays together gets on fetch other s Nenvis raced to oblivion. Somewhere there s a warehouse full of them. Quot our speaker produced and directed a sitcom Tor Abc that ran eight weeks before it was cancelled. She discovered this one Day w Hen they were hosing her name off her parking spot. Quot she has written numerous plays no one Ever heard of because they never made it to the stage and several to scripts that also never made it to the Small screen. She has never won a pulitzer prize. Never been invited to the White House Tor dinner. And has never been interviewed by Barbara Walters. Like red buttons. She never had a  failing is what most of us do. We do that a lot More than we succeed. Sometimes an audience figures we be led charmed lives where everything Falls into place and our introduction gets longer and longer. Nothing could be further from the truth. So it the speaker is such a loser then what a the Point of All those people listening to what she  say Quot because despite All the disappointments and the failures she has still managed to go on breathing and to put them aside. And to an audience that s someone Worth listening to. Universal press Syndicate sunday january do. 1992