THINK BEFORE YOU YELP By Yvonne

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socialnewsdaily.com

 

“What does “Yelp” mean?” asked a friend whose first language is French.  “It’s what little dogs do to get attention,” I explained.  And then I yelped a few times to demonstrate to her how annoying it is. And so are many comments on Yelp.  They are also mean, spiteful and are the handiwork of people with not much going on in their lives except to try and gain some kind of voice by trashing establishments and the people who work in them.  

Yelpers, I learned will actually post their negative review while sitting in the very restaurant. Question – if it’s so horrible why are you still there?  Why not pay the bill, stiff the server and go away? Or speak to the manager and give him/her the chance to make the situation right.

Resorting to Yelp is cowardly and worst, puts you in the class of cyber bullies.  Thankfully, restaurants can’t commit suicide but horrible things have happened to individuals because of the cyber bully culture.

Not all Yelpers are mean. Many take the time to point out the good in their experiences. They don’t yelp at the help.  They get pleasure out of writing something good.  They are from the old school.  “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”

Petitetiquette: Runny Nose at the Table? by Yvonne

smartyhadaparty.com

Last night, in a restaurant, I saw a man blowing his nose with his dinner napkin. Ewww!  It happens, all of a sudden you have a runny nose and you're not at home. You can discreetly pat your nose and then go to the restroom.

When the meal is over, don't leave your napkin so that the side you patted your nose with is on the outside. Don't ball it up and throw in on the plate. Don't fold it up as if you're folding a pillow case, just leave it neatly on the table. Feel better!

Just an aside - after a dinner party at a friend's home in Milan, Italy, I folded my dinner napkin up as if it were clean laundry. The host said, "Never do that. I it means you're never coming back to my house."

YESTERDAY WERE NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY By Yvonne

 

Bad blogger, bad blogger, I’ve fallen behind on posts.

Yesterday, Grammar Girl reminded me that March 4^th is National Grammar Day.  I don’t think it made a difference in many people’s lives. Poor grammar is like typos; we start believing in it and see nothing wrong. And we rarely correct our friends and family – children we will correct, and that’s the right thing to do. Our friends whose first language isn't English, we're also more apt to correct.

When I lived in Milan, Italy, my goal was to speak Italian well. I didn’t want to sound like a three year old just learning to speak.  I was fortunate to have good friends who would correct me in a respectful way. They would repeat what I had said incorrectly, correctly, but not in a reprimanding way but in a caring way. I wasn't every shy about asking what was the right way to say something. An American who once lived in Florence gave me a tip. “When Italians speak to you, repeat what they say and then continue the conversation.”

One of my pet peeves is, “Between you and I.”  The grammarian, Patricia T. O’Conner points out that oftentimes we want to sound gentile, in doing so we make innocent grammatical errors for a lifetime. Her book, WOE IS I, The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, is terrific. You can even email her when in doubt.

James Baldwin said that in England when you open your mouth you tell everything about yourself - who your father was, who your mother was, etc. Speaking proper grammar shouldn’t have anything to do with class but improper grammar will tell on you. 

If you find any grammatical errors in this post, let me know.