Tyrades! Are you hopelessly confused about telephone etiquette?

“Don’t you dare call me without texting first!” blared a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal.

Yes, forget about Taiwan and other potential hot spots; battle lines are being drawn over the divisive issue of modern telephone etiquette.

(“Plenty of ink for the battle lines, since we didn’t use any codifying the unwritten rules of cellphone etiquette!”)

Some combatants are merely miffed or startled (“The call is coming from inside your circle of friends!”) about receiving an unexpected personal call.

(I understand. My heart skips a beat when I see the number for my mother’s nursing home on...