Good morning, RU Crew. Some of you may be aware of my addiction to The Art of Manliness. I readily admit it’s a weakness. After reading a post on AOM that featured a marital rating scale from 1939, I thought it would be fun to put the scales to the test. Call me crazy, but I asked three couples at a recent dinner party to rate their spouses. For some reason, my own husband left the room mumbling something about bloodshed. Not sure what that was all about. The thing I can say for sure is that I wish I’d taped it when our friends were reading the charts. Pure hilarity.
I didn’t tell my impromptu focus group how old the charts were and sat back to observe while they read through the different categories. Wife #1 read for about three seconds, rubbed her hands together (literally) and said, “Give me a pen.” She was ready to go. Her husband (husband #1), to my delight, refused to believe the charts were real, and I was forced to explain they dated back to 1939. I guess things have changed over the years.
Ten minutes later, all snorting and snickering aside, two of the husbands were willing to share their answers. The third husband hesitated, but his wife used her powers of persuasion to convince him. She was pleasantly surprised when he rated her high in the able-to-carry-on-a-good-conversation category.
At this point, husband #1 (the husband of the woman who couldn’t wait to get her hands on a pen) became so incensed over his wife’s answers that he felt compelled to add another category to his sheet. He called this new category “Liar” and his wife received top honors. We shared a good laugh on that one.
As for my overall findings, the fascinating thing is the husbands’ answers were virtually the same for demerits, while the wives’ answers were identical for merits. I have no idea what that could possibly mean, but if anyone has an explanation, be sure to post it.
Two of the three husbands all said their wives were frequently late, failed to sew on buttons and put their cold feet on them at night (How else do they expect us to warm our feet?). All of them said their wives were back seat drivers.
As for the women, they were generous with their husbands on the merits side. All of them said their husbands were courteous to their friends, helped with the dishes and asked their opinions on business and social affairs. The only common demerit the wives gave was snoring. Apparently, two out of the three husbands saw wood at night.
All in all, I don’t think this experiment will solve the marital issues of the world, but it was a heck of a lot of fun and I recommend trying it out on your friends. Particularly after they’ve had a few drinks! You’ll be entertained. I promise.
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RU Crew, how would your spouse rate on the scale?
Join us on Friday when author Jade Lee/Kathy Lyons discusses the use of setting as character. You won’t want to miss it!
Bio: Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance. She has spent seventeen years working in and around the newspaper and advertising industry. After starting a family, Adrienne chose to work part-time as a marketing consultant to enable her more writing time. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, a former board member of Windy City RWA, a member of Kiss of Death and a member of RWA’s Women’s Fiction chapter.
Adrienne’s books have been finalists in the 2008 and 2009 Linda Howard Award of Excellence contests, the 2009 Sheila and the 2010 Write Stuff Contest.
Carrie Spencer, writing romantic comedy and goofy middle-grade, personifies her alter-ego - 
Oh, Adrienne! I think my husband would rate WAY higher on the husband scale than I would on the wife scale.
Dress for breakfast – HA!
Crooked seam in hose – what are pantyhose? I haven’t worn a pair since I was eight-months pregnant with my son ten years ago!
My cold feet on his warm legs – you betcha!
Doesn’t like children – at least once a day
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Fantastic post. Is this the complete scale?
K-
Posted by KelseyBrowning | April 7, 2010, 3:14 amI’m not sure if it’s the complete. This was the only image I could find on it.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Posted by Adrienne Giordano | April 7, 2010, 7:27 amGreat fun, Adrienne!
I think I would have failed miserably even in 1939.
Posted by Tracey Devlyn | April 7, 2010, 7:03 ammorning all!
I notice it doesn’t say anything about the wife snoring…hmmm….=)
Boy, I think I’d flunk too, although I can play a musical instrument so that might get me bonus points?
Fun test!
carrie
Posted by carrie | April 7, 2010, 8:17 amThere definitely must be more to the score card—if a husband did absolutely every merit listed here and none of the demerits, he’d still have to take his wife for three dates a week just to get into the “Average” category. A single demerit point would take an otherwise perfect wife (who does fulfills all the merits listed here) into the “very poor” category.
Thank heavens I’m religious, or I’d have an negative score
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Posted by Jordan | April 7, 2010, 12:36 pmBummer…..my computer is old and sometimes struggles…like now…. and the rating scales didn’t load for me. But I still got a laugh from the post. And yes, my husband snores. Yes, I sew buttons on his shirts (thank goodness he doesn’t need it often). I am good at conversation. He does the dishes and helps around the house (was there something about nagging required??) I do not lie (but I do embellish!) And ooohhh yyeeaahh…I am the world’s worst back seat driver (or the best, depending on how you look at it). It’s a safety issue!!! Now I blame it on having impressionable young drivers in the car. But the truth is, I’ve been doing it for years!
Posted by Wendy Marcus | April 7, 2010, 12:54 pmThis is great, Adrienne! If I ever go back in time, I pray it’s not to 1939. There really should be a separate scale for writers!
Posted by Jessi Bacon | April 7, 2010, 6:13 pmJessi –
Maybe we should make up a new scale with things like “Stares off into space” and “Talks to imaginary people” in the Merit category!
Kelsey
Posted by KelseyBrowning | April 7, 2010, 11:40 pmThere definitely must be more to the score card—if a husband did absolutely every merit listed here and none of the demerits, he’d still have to take his wife for three dates a week just to get into the “Average” category. A single demerit point would take an otherwise perfect wife (who does fulfills all the merits listed here) into the “very poor” category.
Thank heavens I’m religious, or I’d have an negative score
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Posted by Amy | April 18, 2010, 1:25 pm