Situation 7.

Dieting Diners Hurt Hostess

Dear Ann Landers,

I had a dinner party recently and invited five couples, I worked hard because I wanted everything to be just right.

Two of my guests brought their own "dinner" in a jar. It was some kind of diet concoction. I was angry and thought they had a lot of nerve accepting my dinner invitation when they knew they weren't going to eat anything. I told them how hard I had worked preparing the dinner and urged them to "fall off the wagon" for just that meal, but they wouldn't do it.

I finally decided to be a good sport, but deep down I was hurt. What do you think of such guests, and how would you have handled it?

Still Burning

Factual questions

1. How many people were invited to the writer's dinner party?

2. What did two of the guests bring? Why?

3. How did the writer feel?

4. What did she try to do first?

5. What question does she ask Ann Landers?

Language use

1. The writer encloses the word dinner within quotation marks. Why does she do this? How does she feel about her guests' diet concoction?

2. The original idiom "to be on the (water) wagon" means to refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages. In this letter, the idiom has been extended. Why are the two guests "on the wagon"? What are they refraining from? What does their hostess urge them to do?

Vocabulary

a jar

diet

a concoction

to have a lot of nerve

to fall off the wagon

a good sport

Still Burning

Discussion

1. Was it fair or polite of the hostess to encourage her guests to give up their diet especially for her dinner?

2. The writer says she was "a good sport." What does she mean? When are you a good sport?

3. The writer admits that she was angry and hurt. Apparently her anger continued, since she signed her letter "Still Burning." Do you think her anger was justified?

4. Assume that there are certain foods which, for health or religious reasons, you can't eat. What should you do if you are invited to someone's home for dinner?

From the desk of Ann Landers

Dear Burning,

Guests who are on special diets should say so when they are invited out. If I were the hostess and dieters appeared with their own "dinner," I'd say nothing and permit them to "drink their dinners" as inconspicuously as possible. (I would never attempt to get them to "fall off the wagon" or make them feel guilty for sticking to their diets.).

Vocabulary

inconspicuously

to stick to something

Discussion

1. Do you think the writer will be satisfied with Ann Landers' answer? Explain.

2. Ann Landers says she wouldn't want to make her guests "feel guilty." How could she avoid this?

Situation 8.

College Plans Go Up in Smoke

Dear Ann Landers,

Our 16-year-old daughter started to smoke last Christmas. It killed me to see that lovely girl with a cigarette in her mouth. I told her how I felt, Martha continued to smoke, saying "It's my life," etc. I told her if she didn't stop smoking, I wouldn't send her to college. She agreed to quit.

Last night I smelled cigarette smoke on Martha's breath. She confessed she had broken her word. Now I must make good my threat. Martha is unusually bright and wants to teach handicapped children. I am working full-time to put her older sister through school and would do the same for Martha. My husband's salary is good, but with inflation eating us up we could never educate the girls unless I pitched in.

My theory is that if smoking is more important than college, I am a fool to work to put Martha through. Your opinion is wanted.

Freeport Woe

Factual questions

1. Who is the writer of this letter—Martha's mother or father? How do you know?

2. What was Martha doing that was so upsetting?

3. Why did Martha agree to stop smoking?

4. Why must the parent now make good the threat?

5. The writer says, "Your opinion is wanted." Opinion about what?

Language use

The writer says "It killed me to see that lovely girl with a cigarette in her mouth." This exaggeration is understandable and permissible in informal writing and speaking ("My feet are killing me!"), but formal writing should be more precise. How else could she express her distress?