"Phone calls are rude. Intrusive. Awkward. “Thank you for noticing something that millions of people have failed to notice since the invention of the telephone until just now,” Judith Martin, a k a Miss Manners, said by way of opening our phone conversation. “I’ve been hammering away at this for decades. The telephone has a very rude propensity to interrupt people.”
Though the beast has been somewhat tamed by voice mail and caller ID, the phone caller still insists, Ms. Martin explained, “that we should drop whatever we’re doing and listen to me.”"
- Pamela Paul quoting Miss Manners in an article exploring the declining use of phone calls as means of communication, much less the primary one. (Probably) Needless to say, your author is in complete agreement with Miss Manners on this subject. Ms. Paul, however - while clearly sympathetic - covers exceptions and opposing viewpoints with magnanimity.
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