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someone, "At least two people I met here tonight live on Park Avenue," he will, if he is content with his own address, easily enough volunteer where he lives. You should avoid asking anyone those perfunctory or conventional questions which he could not answer in the negative without offending. When you ask a guest, "Did you sleep well?" "Did you like the dinner?" what can the poor man say? Ordinarily, questions such as, "Do you like your teacher?" "Do you get along well with your mother-in-law?" "Did you enjoy your honeymoon?" and a dozen similar ones, should not be asked, because they cannot be answered with a no without offense to someone. If you merely mention honeymoon to either one of a couple who truly enjoyed it, you will set off the testimony for it; and if this reaction does not follow, you know that it would not have been felicitous to ask about it directly. |
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