Dear Miss Manners: I have a question regarding the following scenario:

Person A: Do you know where Main and 129th is?

Person B: Yes, I know where that is. Person A: We’re having a class alumni meeting at 7 p. m. tonight at Strawberry Hill Church.

Person B: OK.

Later on, Person B realizes that they can’t make the meeting. Person B decides to send Person A an e-mail. In the e-mail, Person B tells Person A that they can’t make the alumni meeting and would Person A let them know what went on at the meeting and when the next meeting will be.

Person A never responds. Other people have heard from and spoken with Person A, but Person B has never heard from Person A again. Person B begins to feel that maybe sending Person A an e-mail wasn’t the right thing to do.

Gentle Reader: Or maybe being such a smart aleck about receiving information was an annoying thing to do.

Miss Manners’ guess is that Person A is understandably weary of Person B’s lame humor of pretending not to understand the obvious meaning beneath literal questions and statements and has resolved not to be subjected to more of the same.

It’s a conversation starter

Dear Miss Manners: I am a freshman in college, and it frankly hasn’t been the best experience of my life so far.

So far, I haven’t made any new friends or done much at all outside of classes (I’m trying!). What should I say to non-close acquaintances such as my parents’ friends when they ask how college is going?

Gentle Reader: The purpose of such questions is not to probe into your social or emotional life. It is to start a conversation. Miss Manners recommends an all-purpose opener such as, “Well, it’s not exactly a breeze, but it’s interesting.”

Why are you going?

Dear Miss Manners: I was invited to a wedding and dinner. I do not know the bride or the groom, and know the bride’s mother casually at best. I was invited, along with other casual friends, because there had been a number of cancellations to the wedding. I agreed to go to fill a seat. In this situation, should I take a wedding gift?

Gentle Reader: Why are you going to this wedding, since you hardly know the people involved? Weddings are supposed to be attended by those with some emotional tie to the families concerned. You have already accepted, however. Your present can be small, but you should send (not take) one.