Thursday, June 14, 2012

What Do Committed Couples REALLY Argue About?

Repost from psychologytoday.com 


It doesn't have to be sex; devoted couples can argue about soup. 
 
They bought a few bulbs to plant last fall, anticipating an early summer filled with bright colors and enviable floral arrangements. They worked the soil together, laughing and talking. Everything was perfect until The Wife mentioned that she really liked the forsythia at their friend’s house and suggested that they might consider some plantings along that line.

The Husband--gently, sweetly, thoughtfully--corrected her and pointed out that their friend’s house was bordered, not by forsythia, but by hydrangeas.

Laughing again, she--thoughtfully, sweetly--corrected his correction, and reminded him how much more she knew about landscaping. She read magazines; she, after all, had purchased books on the very topic. With a smile, she also reminded him that when it came to recalling the names of things, he wasn’t exactly first in line for the prize.

Gently, lovingly, with a husbandly concern for her well-being, he responded that, until fairly recently, she couldn’t tell a rose from a pair of pants, for all she knew about gardening, whereas he had grown up with a trowel in his hand, to which she replied that he better get ready to throw in the trowel because he couldn’t tell his pants from his----; oh, well, you know how the story ends.

Author Photo
GINA BARRECA has appeared on 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, The Today Show, Joy Behar, and Oprah to discuss gender, power, politics, and humor. Her books, which have been translated into seven languages, include They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted, Babes in Boyland, and It’s Not That I’m Bitter. She is a professor of English and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut.

Gina Barreca is author of  Make Mine a Double
Why Women Like Us Like to Drink (Or Not)
University Press of New England

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