My thoughts: Yes, it is bad manners when dining with others regardless of the circumstances. It would make you look self-involved and uninterested in your company. I think the word I am looking for is "snooty".
Manners are not about how we think. Manners are about how we make others think. We all sacrifice for the social graces.
Well now, what does one do if someone tries to get him "involved" in a conversation, about which he knows not the topic or what's been said so far about it?
I do greet every single person at the table, acknowledging their presence and picking up a few scraps of information about how each one is doing, blahblahblah.
But to try and follow things renders me comatose.
Usually, I avoid it by not accepting such invitations, probably 75% of them.
I'm more of a one-on-one person, not a social animal.
Incidentally, an excerpt of this is posted here
http://www.freerepublic.c...chat/2293941/posts?page=1in case anyone wishes to see other comments.
