Martial Bliss

[clevermanka]

bart_calendar posted a link to this handy little spousal evaluation chart, circa 1930.

I scored a positive 48, which was shocking. That I scored that high, I mean. I can only attribute that high of a score to my enjoyment of cooking, sewing, and frequent declarations of devotion to my beloved. Goodness knows it has nothing to do with my temperance, avoidance of profanity, or religious observances.

mckitterick, unsurprisingly, zoomed past me with a score of 71 (by my estimation), thus putting him solidly in the "Superior" category, and just barely missing "Very Superior." I gotta be honest, hon--it was your incessant writing on the tablecloth with a pencil that killed you in the Demerits category. You've got to quit that, for serious.

Comments

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that husbands in the 1930s got a five point demerit for drinking!!!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I think the implied meaning there was "drinks to excess." Hence the term "uses" and the added fragment about being drunk.

mckitterick drinks for sure, and more often than I do, but I didn't count that as a demerit because I've only seen him really drunk about, oh, three times in the five or six years we've been together.

I'm a Dapper Dan man!

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

a well-worded post!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Ha! Thanks. I admit to putting my own interpretation to some of the questions (see my response to Bart, above). But mostly I was fairly literal in my reading and evaluation.

For all the sexism and double-standards implied in many of the questions, I have to say that both surveys contain fair questions about what someone brings to a relationship. For every ridiculous and superficial issue (red nail polish? Dislikes to shave on Sunday?), there are good questions about keeping your partner happy and communicating well.

[cmt2779.livejournal.com]

Wow. Cory scored a 72 (in the superior range) and I scored 21 and am apparently a failure as a wife. Of course, since it seemed like most of the wifely duties I failed at involved service of husband and children (and really, according to this you're a better wife the more kids you have), I am not surprised at all. This is just further evidence that if I had lived in an earlier era I would either have been married and miserable or a spinster.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'm considering going back through to evaluate myself as a husband, but I think I'd score worse than I did as a wife.

[curieuse.livejournal.com]

Oh man, thank you! I can't wait to look at that later and emailed it to myself to think of with my next women's studies class.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'll be interested to hear what you and your class think of it.

[berkie.livejournal.com]

Uh, I just got a 9 on that test. Yeah. Clearly, I should not wear pajamas all the time and cuss so damn much.

See? There I go again!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I cuss a lot, too. A lot more than mckitterick does.

In the spirit of honesty, I'll admit I occasionally don for weekend breakfasts what I call lounge-wear. Pretty top-and-bottom sets or house dresses that I make specifically for puttering around the house. I don't sleep in them, so I consider myself "dressed" when I wear them. I wouldn't go to the grocery store in them, but they're certainly not pajamas, either. =)

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I don't sleep in any clothing, so if I'm not nude around the house, I am Dressed.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

"Marital"? "Martial"? I thought this was going to be about bujitsu...

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad someone caught my play on words!