Have you ever been in a restaurant and watched as some uncouth guy at the next table blew his nose in his napkin, licked his knife clean and then went to work with a toothpick? Did you then conclude that our manners aren’t what they used to be? Join the club. Jeff Neumann, Special to The Denver Post A survey in 2018 found that 74 percent of Americans believe we have become more rude and less critical of behavior we used to scorn, such as using cellphones in restaurants and cursing in public.