DEAR MISS MANNERS: My wife and I purchased our first home last September, a beautiful house on a corner lot.
Well, then we had an unwelcome surprise. Almost every week, we have a new sign in our yard advertising for someone's garage sale.
I have not had one person ask my wife or me if they could place a sign in our yard; they just do it as if this is acceptable. I would never dream of placing anything in someone's yard without their consent. Whenever I see a new sign, I take it and throw it in the trash. Am I obligated to advertise other people's garage sales just because I have a corner lot?
GENTLE READER: You are under no such obligation, but barring the appearance of a sign- and mallet-wielding neighbor while you are out watering the petunias, some method of remote education is clearly necessary. This unfortunately means a sign of your own.
Miss Manners prefers the polite ("Please do not post signs on the lawn") to the peremptory ("Private Property. No Advertising"). And yes, she appreciates the irony.
(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)