# Is it rude to skip the receiving line at a funeral

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-rude-to-skip-the-receiving-line-at-a-funeral/778594>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 30, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-rude-to-skip-the-receiving-line-at-a-funeral/778594 "2017-01-30T16:12:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-rude-to-skip-the-receiving-line-at-a-funeral/778594/21 "2017-06-29T23:48:02Z")

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Most of us are going to be sympathetic to a mourner’s needs, and if he can’t face people at that time, we’ll make allowances.

Yes, a funeral is a social occasion, and people want to interact with the principal mourners. It’s a social grace, to shake hands with, or hug, the widow (etc.) If they hold aloof, it has the superficial semblance of rudeness.

(“Well, they’re too self-important to accept sympathy from me!”)

But it ain’t rudeness if you’re so stricken with bereavement that you can’t handle the interaction. I’ve seen it happen. At my b.i.l.'s brother’s funeral, my b.i.l. sat, unmoving and unspeaking, through the whole deal, and he said later it was one of the worst ordeals of his life. He had to be there, but, were it up to him, he’d have skipped it entirely and just gone fishing. He was suffering.

Fortunately, pretty much everybody “got it” and left him alone.

To the best of your ability, trust people to be good. (But…there’s one jerk in every crowd…)

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-rude-to-skip-the-receiving-line-at-a-funeral/778594/22 "2017-06-29T23:51:58Z")

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nm, wrong thread

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**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-rude-to-skip-the-receiving-line-at-a-funeral/778594/23 "2017-06-30T00:17:22Z")

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> [@drewder](#):
>
> Odd I’ve never been to a funeral with a receiving line. I’ve only seen them at weddings.

There was one at my best friend funeral and her ex husband was there which was very awkward for me b/c the SOB treated my friend horrible ! I really didn’t want to say anything to him , he told me that he felt guilty about how horrible he treated his ex-wife . I just looked at him and said nothing b/c it wasn’t the time and place to tell what I thought of him. Receiving lines at funerals can be awkward if you don’t a person in the line .

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-rude-to-skip-the-receiving-line-at-a-funeral/778594/24 "2017-06-30T01:17:51Z")

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**Moderator Action**

Thread closed due to excessive thread bumping.

**CoffinMan** , please do not bump every thread that you can find on a topic as you have done here today.

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