Drawing upon her rich experience of life, Prudence (Prudie to her friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send your questions for publication to Prudence@slate.com. Queries should not exceed 200 words in length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably including your location.

Dear Prudence,

My fiance and I attend different universities. He is a scholarship athlete, and academics are not his forte. Lately, I have taken it upon myself to write a few of his papers. Now he has come to expect it. How can I tell him that I am not his tutor or his slave without causing a fight? I don't mind doing the work, I just know it's not the best thing for him.

--Two Diplomas, Washington, D.C.

Dear Two Dips,

You unfortunately have a sticky wicket of your own making--and that may be the way out. Since it was your idea initially, tell the athlete something like "I have made a great mistake." Explain that you were not thinking ahead, imagined it to be a one-shot, and now know it is not beneficial for him in the long run. (No need to go into the national scandal of schools going academically easy on their athletes and graduating dumb people.)

Prudie foresees a potential fight, and then you will have to evaluate the young man's values and intellect in relation to your own. As one of Prudie's friends says, mazel ton ... tons of luck.

--Prudie, studiously

Dear Prudie,

I need advice. A woman of my acquaintance recently announced that she has a "boyfriend" and wants everyone to introduce the fellow by that title. It seems to me that when you've reached the stage of life where your children are eligible for AARP, all your grandchildren are married, and some of your great-grandchildren have their own Web sites, you should find a term other than boyfriend for the guy with whom you're hooking up, hanging out, going steady, or whatever.