Duma Key reviews

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Another article about Duma Key tourism

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Dear Miss Manners: When I was a young boy, my father stressed upon me that gentlemen shake hands—always— with the right hand—much like soldiers always salute with the right hand.



It presented a problem later in life when I was introduced to a man who had no right hand. He extended his left hand and, remembering what my father had taught me, I took it in my right hand.



Recently, I was reading Stephen King’s “Duma Key.” The central character, who is missing his right arm, says that the person he has just met has mistakenly used his right hand to shake the character’s left hand. He was definite in the fact that doing so was “wrong.”



When shaking hands with a person who has no right hand or arm, is it proper to use the left or the right hand?



Gentle Reader: However much you admire Mr. King, you should not mistake his books for etiquette manuals. Miss Manners means no disrespect to that author when she warns you that it would not be a good idea to model your behavior after his characters’.



Putting out a left hand to shake an extended left hand might be graceful among friends. But to chastise a newcomer for not immediately registering “Oh! Here’s a person with a missing hand!” is ridiculous. Polite people look each other in the eye when they meet.