Good Etiquette

Canadians and Americans are entirely too comfortable in public behaving in all sorts of boorish ways, this poor etiquette reflects our lowered standards and contempt for one another.

It is rude, disrespectful and lacks class to act as if you're having dinner in your own home while out at a restaurant or at a cocktail party.

Here are five don'ts of public decorum:

1. Gum chewing is disgusting and should only be done whilst grazing in the pasture, its low end behavior and makes you look tawdry and cheap.

2. Licking your' fingers is not a sign of appreciation for the meal you've consumed, it merely broadcasts that you were not raised right. It is offensive and vulgar to watch a grown person suck sauce or food off their digits when there are perfectly good napkins to wipe your hands.

3. Toothpicks are to be used in the privacy of the lavatory after a meal or a date; nobody wants to watch you dig a chunk of spinach from your incisor. Picking your teeth at a table with guests or in public is shoddy and in bad taste. Using the nail of your pinky finger as a substitute for a tooth pick is exponentially worse than a toothpick. Go to the restroom and fix yourself up.

4. Grooming in public or in front of guests is not only vane and self-absorbed but; really irritating to the rest of us who have to watch you powder your nose and reapply lipstick. Do it in private.

5. Finally, blowing ones snooter after a spicy meal at your local Asian jaunt is in the poorest taste and just plain nasty.

Good manners demonstrate high standards of conduct, propriety and esteem; it tells the world you value yourself and acknowledge that you share the world with others.