According to the conventions of etiquette, at what point in a conversation is it alright to (cont)?

[tanishia]

challenge the other person to a fight?

We all know how important etiquette is, and the laws of etiquette must be enforced. Thus, I conclude, that when it become apparent during a conversation that someone has broken the laws of etiquette, you may challenge them to a fight. Am I correct in my thinking?

Here is an example:
The other day, a middle-aged woman told me that my "pants look funny"..... this was clearly a very rude and outrageous statement to make during general conversation in a civil society. For this reason, I said to her: "b/tch!! you wanna put it???? come on put it?!!? I'm finna black yo eye, right heea in front errybody." I the threw my shirt on the ground, and she ran away.

Now, I am sure that you will agree that I did the right thing. In the same way that the judicial system removes the rights of criminals when they have infringed upon the rights of others, so too must we, etiquetteally-correct people, punish those that break the laws of etiquette so that we may continue to live in a civil society.

Your opinions, please.

[bearchan]

Yes, etiquette does provide for punishment of rudeness. But not by violence or the threat of it. Sorry.

Response to bluebell: Of course we know he's joking. But there are people -- and even whole cultures -- that seriously do believe that violence in response to rudeness is justified. So the question, serious or not, is worth answering.

[chavivi]

No

There is NEVER an excuse for violence..!!

[alburt]

The highest form of reaction to a rude and nasty remark is to give the person a look that says, "I can't believe you were so vulgar as to say that!"

Or you could come back with a mild-mannered remark that's subtle like a piercing with a long needle, where they wouldn't even realize they'd been zinged until you were up, up, and away: "And why were you staring at a man's pants anyway?"

A person who values living in a civil society doesn't get involved in threats or violence.

[hackett]

Guys, can't you see he is JOKING?!?

[matchitisiw]

Don’t be silly. No need to wait for a certain point in the conversation. Just get it over with and assume a threatening stance from the very beginning. Curl your lips into a suitably vicious snarl and glare menacingly at everyone in the immediate vicinity. If you must, make a hard fist with one hand, and rhythmically punch it into the palm of the other hand. With such a threatening stance, you will ward off any outrageously rude comments to you about your pants (shame on that trollop!), not to mention other unseemly displays of incivility. It’s a tough job, I know. But with rudeness becoming so epidemically rampant in our society, someone has to do it.

Now, don't thank me. Always glad to help.