‘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 caller ID, even though it’s usually something innocuous like “Is it okay to vaccinate your mom against the previous vaccine?”)

But other telecommunications troopers are prepared to end a lifelong friendship or craft voodoo dolls of everyone who will be at Thanksgiving dinner – if........

© Yuma Sun