Etiquette is what we agree on so the small moments don’t have to be negotiated each time, and a great deal of it has quietly changed in the last decade. The Rites & Etiquette desk reports the new defaults as they’re actually settling: digital condolences, gift registries that aren’t registries, the tip you leave when there’s a tablet between you and the person who served you.

Less Emily Post museum, more contemporary handbook. The pieces here pair the rule with the reason, we explain the why so the etiquette holds even when the situation slips a step sideways from the example.