All articles filed in Etiquette

Dear Lola, Why do people use the phrase ‘sleep like a baby’ when they are wishing someone a good rest? I’ve never known any babies to be particularly great sleepers. They fight falling asleep, wake up in the middle of the night for a wee and a feed, and have trouble staying asleep if the environment around…

Dear Lola, I love my husband, but he has one terrible fault that makes me want to lash out at him like a shrieking harpy. He has this insane need to be proven right all the time – and then he gloats for weeks about his intellectual prowess. It has gotten so bad that I found myself…

Dear Lola, How come toasters get hot enough to burn? Every morning I put toast into my toaster and, despite my best efforts each day to lower the cook time, I end up with a burnt piece of bread with which to start my day. I just don’t get it, are the people who make…

Dear Lola, Why do we refer to actors starring “in” a movie versus starring “on” TV? Wouldn’t the same verbage apply to both scenarios? I know this doesn’t seem like a pressing world issue, but it has been weighing on my mind for a few weeks now. If I keep thinking about it for much longer, my wife…

Dear Lola, I recently moved from the US to the UK and am perplexed by clothing. Women’s clothing sizes are vastly different to what I am used to. I thought it was just another thing that my husband and I would have to adapt to, but that’s not the case at all! Men’s clothing is…

Dear Lola, I have always wondered why honey comes in a bottle shaped like a bear. I understand that bears love honey, but they aren’t selling this honey in a bear shaped bottle to a bear in the woods. Why don’t they put honey in a bottle shaped like a bee? It just makes no…

Dear Lola, Why do we say an alarm clock is going ‘off’ when the alarm is actually turning on? Shouldn’t we say the alarm is turning on? Also, when we turn the alarm off, does that mean the alarm is still making noise or silent? We’re using the same word to mean two entirely different things –…

Dear Lola, I have always wondered which occurs first – waking up or opening your eyes? I thought that surely you must wake up first, therefore spurring your eyes to open. Yet, are you really awake if you cannot remember anything before the moment you opened your eyes? I thought about this for a long time…

Dear Lola, Why do they call financial services people a broker? Doesn’t the very title lead you to have misgivings about giving them your money? Why would we hire someone to make us broke? I’ve been thinking about this all night, I’m turning 25 and been told it’s time to set up retirement accounts. Also, would…

Dear Lola, I recently stumbled across an oddity while doing my weekly grocery shop. I was purchasing ketchup and as I was grabbing my usual bottle, I saw that the ketchup next to it was labeled fancy. My ketchup doesn’t say it is fancy. The colors looked the same. The ingredients looked the same. What makes…