This week my 20 month old daughter Ana invited me to a tea party ("momma tea!"). At the table was a teapot, a spoon, one teacup, a saucer and creamer. Also present was a big brown bear. Once I was seated, Ana handed me the creamer and poured me air from the teapot.

With an eye toward etiquette, I replaced the creamer with a teacup. I also found a cup for Mr. Bear and served us each a cuppa. Apparently insulted because I took over her job, Ana grabbed my teacup, set it angrily in front of her and gave me the creamer, again.

I then realized that in my quest to exhibit appropriate manners, I was behaving rudely. So I happily drank my tea from a creamer and chatted with my party-mates. When I pointed out to Ana that Mr. Bear had not yet been served, she took his cup and stuck it on his nose, where it remained perched for the rest of the party.

I don't know much about formal tea etiquette, but I'm pretty sure that one doesn't serve tea in a creamer and am quite certain that one never perches a teacup on a guest's nose.

The Point?

As there are rules governing the proper dispensing of tea, so are there rules for engaging in social interactions on the internet. And like my sweet Ana serving tea, in the world of cybercourse, I sometimes don't know a faux pas from a cup on the nose.

Newbies make mistakes. Some of us are unschooled in all things technical and think Sans Serifa is a mountain range in Southern California. Some of us are too friendly, too rude or in the case of yours truly, too goofy, too soon.

I hope to always hold my daughter to appropriate standards of behavior, but only according to her ability to understand what is expected. And when I'm charting new social territory, I hope that others do the same for me.

While some of you might view this as plea for gratuitous mercy...well...okay...it is.

And speaking of Goofy. I heard this great quote on a Disney cartoon ::wondering if I have to link Disney::

"I might be Goofy, but I'm not dumb." - Goofy.

Labels: From My Loins