Thing For Other People To Be Today: punctilious.

'How much do we owe you?'

'Oh, call it a quid.'

Call it a quid? Well, that's no good, is it. That means that either we're being cheated or we now owe someone a favour, which we'll have to repay at some point with interest. Basically, we lose out either way. So what do we do? We fish out a handful of change and discover that all we have are five pence pieces, a screw that might have come from somewhere important, and a stray Euro.

Yes, other people should always be punctilious. I mean, how about capital letters? texting is much easier if you don't bother, and, let's face it, when we ourselves fail to use capital letters among friends then the effect is charmingly informal. but is this person who hasn't bothered with capital letters in his email quite friends enough? 

Is anyone quite friends enough?

How about those dirty mugs in the sitting room? Are our hosts treating us with an affectionate lack of ceremony, or failing to treat us with proper respect? 

But then how about the man who insists on giving up his seat on the train? Am I to feel attractive or just old?

Hang on: that Am I to feel attractive or just old question. This is perhaps punctilious, but I must point out that that's a rhetorical question. I really really don't want to know. 

Okay?

Thing For Other People To Be Today: punctilious. This word comes from the Italian punctiglio, small point, from the Latin punctum, point.