What should I have said to the snobby bigwig?
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was invited by a friend who works in our state’s governor’s office to attend a college football game in the university president’s box.
This is a nationally recognized university, but not an Ivy League school.
At the game, the president asked me what college I had attended, then gave me a condescending stare when I named the school (which I attended over 50 years ago). My alma mater is a state university, not unlike his institution, and it was all I could afford at the time.
He then proceeded to correct my grammar on something else I had said. It was an odd, technical correction, and I think my words reflected my regional dialect rather than any misuse of the English language. Still, it surprised me and felt very awkward.
I didn’t respond to his comments, but instead thanked him for allowing me to visit his box, and then walked away. I was embarrassed for the friend who had brought me, who kept apologizing to me.
Since this has never happened before, and I enjoy attending college football games whenever offered, I would like to know how I should have handled this.
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