Sunday, November 13, 2011

How Not To Talk To A Woman: Mother-Daughter Edition

The other day, Daughter-Only's boyfriend AM lifted her into a bear hug and, groaning a little, said, "Are you getting heavier or am I just getting weaker?"

Rookie mistake, that. And, to his credit, he realized right away that he had blundered and spent half the afternoon attempting (albeit with mixed success) trying to atone for it.

Hubby, 24-year veteran of marriage, does not have inexperience to fall back on as an excuse.

While spooning the last of a bowl of chili into his mouth, he said, "What'd you do different this time? This is perfect."

Granted, there's a compliment in there somewhere, but it's overshadowed by the implication about the "imperfection" of countless pots of chili past. In fairness to him, his comment does highlight a drawback of that "intuitive cooking" I was pretty sure was going to make me famous a few posts ago: it's never, ever the same chili (chowder, soup, meatloaf, whatever) twice.

On the other hand, I have been the same wife* for twenty-four years, so you'd think he'd have a little more of a clue at this point.

*Actually, there are probably countless ways in which I am not at all the same wife I was 24 years ago. However, the backhanded aspect of today's compliment wouldn't have gotten past any of the many wives I've been.

4 comments:

  1. You are just delightful. I love your style. Naughty hubs! I'm sure he meant well.

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  2. Youngest sister11/14/11, 1:12 AM

    It wasn't my husband but I once had someone tell me "Wow, your hair looks different. It looks good!". Your hubby should definitely know better!

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  3. Thanks everyone for the comments!

    SS--Hubby does claim he meant well--and he almost certainly did. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it if I hadn't agreed to post every day for 30 days. ;)

    YS--Reminds me of the time I ran into Aunt Liz in the municipal parking lot. She said, "I almost didn't recognize you! You look great!"

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