Yes, etiquette is hypocritical. Yes, it does inhibit children - if you're lucky. But the idea that it's elitist and irrelevant is like saying language is elitist and irrelevant.
Judith MartinIt is, indeed, a trial to maintain the virtue of humility when one can't help being right.
Judith MartinSociety cannot exist without etiquette ... It never has, and until our own century, everybody knew that.
Judith MartinWhen you consider how epidemic boredom is in our time, you have to concede that entertaining is a healing art.
Judith Martin