The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.

In the column Judith Martin answers etiquette questions contributed by her readers and writes short essays on problems of manners or clarifies the essential qualities of politeness.

Judith Martin (née Perlman born September 13 1938) better known by the pen name Miss Manners is an American journalist author and etiquette authority.