Table manners have always reflected social values, class structures, and practicality of their time. Many rules were created to signal refinement or avoid inconvenience in formal settings that no ...

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was always taught that one’s bread plate is placed to the left. Whenever I am with a large group at a table at a wedding (or another function), at least one person always takes ...

I hold formal dinner parties with limited place settings. But there are friends who never respond to my invitations and show up anyway. What’s the best way to accommodate them?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am planning to invite my daughter’s in-laws to a formal dinner. I plan to host it the way my late almost-aristocratic mother would have done 60 years ago: with fine china, ...

Dining etiquette stretches back centuries. To many people, formal table settings are an art form, and table manners are not to be taken lightly.