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Personal blog of christian
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Call It What You Will…There's been some fascinating and borderline-contentious debate about whether or not my complaint detailing my husband's nocturnal jerking qualifies as nagging.One of The Three Michaels Who Comment Here says the men have to stick together so, of course, he argues that I'm breaking my commitment to not nag. Several women have agreed to meet me for coffee, since they understand that a double expresso is clearly what it takes to recover from three nights of being bounced from one's own bed without nagging at all. And then there's Kevin, the commenter who just can't wait for the mud wrestling to start. This morning, Doug and I arrived at a few definitions of terms, though it's still unclear whether or not we see eye-to-eye on the interpretations of our own definitions. "Nagging," I said, "is when I'm bugging you about something you should do, something you've been avoiding, something I need or want you to do--like take out the trash without forgetting the trash under my desk in the office, fix the doorbell, unclog the left-side sink in the bathroom, put three new lightbulbs in the dining room chandelier..." "I get the picture," he said. "You've painted it clearly enough, but you've left out the nuances. Like whining, for instance. Nagging and whining are very different things, but certainly there's a lot of overlap between them..." "What are you saying? That I've given up nagging and replaced it with whining? How can you think that about me? Whining would be all about me, wouldn't it? Why, I never give a single thought to myself and what I want...I never whine! I may use my strong personality to motivate--" "Ah, yes," he said. "Motivation. That's what I feel when you issue one of your ultimatums, all right." "Okay. You've got to be kidding, right? When have I EVER issued an ultimatum?" "Last night, remember? You said that if I succeeded in not jerking for one whole night, you'd make it worth my while." He had me there, but still, I think the poor man misunderstood my intentions. "Oh, honey," I cooed, "that wasn't an ultimatum. That was a bribe." It worked, too.
Posted by Katy on 01/26/05 at 03:06 PM
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