DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have friends who got engaged about a month ago. They refer to each other as fiancee and fiance, even though I clearly know they are engaged. They don't use their names even to close friends since their engagement.
I would understand if they were a young couple or on first marriages, but this is her third and his second marriage and they are in their 50s. It's just kind of annoying. I am happy for them, but I am wondering if this is a common or accepted practice.
GENTLE READER: As you are already happy for your friends, what would you have them do to make you even happier? Refrain from reveling in their new tie, on the grounds that they are too old or maritally experienced?
Of course there is reveling and reveling. It would be understandable to be annoyed by a couple who behaved in your presence as if they were alone. But to object to their use of the correct formal terms strikes Miss Manners as churlish.