The Royal Marriage

The Royal Marriage

“The man may be the head of the household. But the woman is the neck,
and she can turn the head whichever way she pleases.”
Nia Vardalos

Recently, I became aware of the distinction between the royal usage of the word “we” and the typical usage of the word “we” in married life.

The Queen might say, “We are not pleased,” and most people know that she is referring to herself. But, in our family, when my wife says, “We should turn down the air, I’m cold,” that means, “Will you please turn off the air?” Or sometimes, it’s more like a subtle command. I didn’t realize this in the first few years of marriage but gradually I have learned the code and generally respond in a Pavlovian way without thinking about it. You may have had similar experiences.

How a statement of “We should turn down the air, I’m cold” became a command to turn the air off is still a bit of a mystery to me, but it has.

Not that it matters, as I love my wife and would do it anyway. But it does disprove an old saw that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” You can, often without the dog even noticing it.