Keep it inside, people

ok, this may not be suitable fare to read during lunch but when did it become acceptable to clip your toenails in public?! Did I miss the memo? I was taught that you did those personal things (by which I mean everything from scratching to nose blowing to undergarment repositioning)in your personal space AWAY from others. I would even lump touching up nail polish in this catagory - but will stop just shy of condeming lipstick/balm re-apps as Emily Post does - I do have a life.

But did it, at some point in our great cosmic coming of age, become permissible to clip one's toenails in public? Now granted, the incident I witnessed was at the local swimming pool where everyone is running around in scant clothing in the first place but this does not mean I must be privy to ALL of your secrets. I can handle the weakening elastic, the chlorine hair, the god awful I've-Been-to-Palm-Beach coverups but do not subject me to the toenails. I know they are there - just don't draw attention to them. Or subject me to potentially stepping on pieces of them!

As this has been an isolted incident (SO FAR!) I may be speaking too soon. It may have been one misguided woman (yes, a woman - you'd think she'd know better. Her mother would certainly have something to say about all this. tsk tsk) with little time on her hands to devote to her toes. Perhaps it was one unfortunate edge of nail that prompted the grooming and then she just figured, "oh what the hell, while i'm here..." Or perhaps she in fact did grow up in a barn and doesn't know any better. Whatever the case, I hope she hasn't started a new fad. I for one will keep my toe maintenance where it belongs - in the bedroom, in front of a good movie with cotton wedged between the toes until the polish dries.