DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have an acquaintance who frequently walks her dog at the same time I do. She is a nice person, and we get along well; our dogs even like each other.

We are both female. The issue is that her skirts or sundresses keep getting shorter. I avert my eyes, but I have seen more of her anatomy than I care to. I have also seen a certain male neighbor looking at her in a not-so-nice way.

Should I say something to her? If so, how do I do so politely?

GENTLE READER: Really, as this person is merely an acquaintance, Miss Manners fails to see why you would wish to raise the question of who is sniffing whom at all.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I hosted a longtime friend of mine for 10 days at our home. She had told me she enjoys staying with friends for extended periods, finding it an efficient way to travel.

She did not bring her own bathroom essentials, vitamins, slippers, etc. We did all the driving and the planning. We cooked and served every breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with providing beer and wine every day. (Typically she drinks much more than we do.)

Often she would ask the menu for the day, and I would prepare a shopping list. She would join me in the shopping and point out items she thought would be helpful. I invited her to purchase items she wanted outside the menu, but her answer always was, “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

She secretly joked with me that if she stares at the check long enough, someone will grab it. We told her we were happy to dine out if she did not mind separate checks. She said yes, but added that a man’s ego usually prevents this, so I should make sure my husband was on the same page. (He was.)

We dined out once and included another couple, and everyone received their own check. She took us out to dinner at the end of her stay as a thank-you.

My manners taught me to be a generous host, and I believe we were, all the way to the end when I drove her to the airport. However, I feel like our generosity was taken advantage of.

Where is the line? Is a longer-term guest expected to pitch in? I will definitely think carefully about a future invite.

GENTLE READER: A longer-term guest is expected to do more, and Miss Manners agrees your friend fell short. But where the line is drawn can be challenging since any equalization of expense is meant to occur by the balancing of invitations -- not within a single visit.

Where your friend offended most was when she all but told you she was sticking you with the expenses: joining the shopping expedition and standing at the checkout counter but never offering to pay; joking about staring at the check; the comment about a man’s ego. She would be a much more effective moocher -- not to mention a much more pleasant houseguest -- if she would learn when to keep her thoughts to herself.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: To prevent party guests from driving impaired, I came up with a fun game using a $21 breathalyzer I bought online. I call it “Have I Had Too Many?”

Guests who are at, or even close to, the legal limit get a prize -- a free ride home!

Everything was going great until one guest tested at well over twice the legal limit, but then refused the free ride. He used some pretty strong language, shoved me aside and was almost out the door with his equally impaired plus-one when I said, “Don’t drive or I will be forced to call the cops!”

Well, he did, I did, and he was arrested.

Needless to say, it ruined the evening. A couple of guests left saying that I overreacted, as he is an adult and appeared fine.

Miss Manners, what should I have said or done differently? My guests know that I take this seriously, as I was the victim of a head-on crash by an impaired driver. The crash caused me to undergo many surgeries.

I know many people must face this challenge -- guests who insist on driving when they really shouldn’t.

GENTLE READER: Interesting approach. And Miss Manners is using “interesting” in the same off-dictionary way you appear to use “fun.”

Whatever you wanted people to think, your game framed drunk driving as a joke. And if you have an explanation about why that was not your intent, remember that it would have to be understood by people you know to be alcohol-impaired.

In future, let’s exercise better judgment: You could limit the amount of alcohol you serve. If you see a guest who worries you, you could involve another guest who lives nearby to help get the impaired one home safely. (And that person will be far more helpful if they are not distracted by worrying about what you are going to do next.)

And of course, if this is a truly unmanageable problem in your circle of friends, you should not be serving alcohol at all.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I like unusual people -- eccentrics, scapegoats, difficult people. I always have. In the rare event that someone mistreats me, I distance myself; otherwise, I remain friends with almost everyone, despite our differences. I will not take part in the bullying culture of, “I don’t like that person, therefore you shouldn’t, either.”

Some people have asked me, “Why are you still friends with her?” Not only can love not always be explained, but my friendships are my business alone.

How can I politely respond to these people without explaining or justifying those friendships? (Ironically, some of them happen to be members of that loose, unliked group.) I do not want to alienate anyone.

GENTLE READER: By not explaining or justifying the friendship. The first three times you answer, “Because I like her,” do it with a shrug and a disarming smile. If that is not enough to bore your questioner into dropping it, the next three repetitions can be said with gradually mounting irritation.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is your opinion on handkerchiefs? I prefer them to tissues.

I have seen brides, at weddings that cost thousands of dollars, crying into wadded-up tissues. If they really find it so disgusting to reuse a soiled handkerchief, they could invest a few dollars in a multi-pack and get a fresh one each time. Also, I believe that it is better for the environment.

GENTLE READER: Why would anyone prefer a flimsy piece of paper to an all-purpose little cloth for mopping up life’s frequent spills, including those from noses?

Miss Manners suspects it is the fussy name and the embellishments -- such as embroidery, floral motifs and monograms -- that condemn handkerchiefs as frivolous.

So yes, she loves them. Remind her to give large lacy ones to prospective brides who are known to be emotional.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Two teachers at the school where I teach had babies. The school had separate baby showers for each of them, and I gave a gift at each shower.

Neither one has offered any thanks to any of us for the gifts they received. I’m rather surprised. Is this the norm these days?

GENTLE READER: As you are a teacher, you probably subscribe to the idea that normal behavior -- which is to say, that behavior in which many people indulge -- could stand improvement.

That ingratitude is common does not make it acceptable. Nor is being busy an excuse you would accept from students who didn’t turn in their assignments.

But Miss Manners presumes that you are also familiar with failure to complete a task. Are you sure that each of the packages included a securely fastened card identifying the donor?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Many of my soon-to-be in-laws are upset that we don’t have a wedding registry, and also that they don’t have my phone number to complain.

Nobody bothers my fiance, but his mother, "Noreen," gets a lot of calls from the extended family. I’ve given my blessing for her to share the truth: We are putting together photo walls in the front hallway of our home, and will happily include anyone who sends us pictures.

Even this highly personal gift idea isn’t cutting it, and Noreen is getting frazzled as the date draws nigh. Directing relatives to my fiance’s phone number isn’t working.

I’m tempted to make a registry that is all socks to be donated to a charity, but that would probably just make things worse for Noreen. Please talk me down.

GENTLE READER: Presumably you know that Miss Manners has long been railing exhaustively -- and ineffectually -- against the custom of giving one’s shopping list to guests.

Nevertheless, when she calms down, she realizes that there really are people who would like to please celebrants and yet don’t know them well enough to know how. To make that palatable, it should be done indirectly and in general terms.

What your fiance’s mother needs is such an answer to the relatives: “They love kitchen gadgets,” “Their house is in tones of blue and gray” or “They travel a lot.”

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)