re: Why does it bother women so much that men don't express their thoughts?

quote:

---

How long you been married?

---

He said "major," so I'm guessing less than 5

I'm in the same boat, incidentally, but have been with her for longer.

don't think you're going to trick me into telling you what i think about this OP.

Wife: Im going get my hairstyled tomorrow.

Me:k
Wife: How you think I should style it?
Me: don't care
Wife: what's wrong
Me: nothing
Wife:so, if I highlight itpurple would you mind?
Me: Don't care
Wife: green?
Me: Don't care
Wife: why are you being mean?
Me: takes outphone and goes on TD . Nothing is said for the rest of the night.

quote:

---

Seriously man. The inquisitive "What are you thinking about?"
"Not a damn thing babe. Just a complete abyss of blank." Of course I don't actually tell her that...

---

I always think of "A Clockwork Orange"... "My mind is a blank. Uh, and I'll smash your face for you, yarblockos!"

My husband is like that. He will tell me everything that happened in his day in real time, usually while I'm standing in a doorway with an armful of stuff that I've been trying to take to another room. It took me twenty years to realize that whenever I thought, "oh, I'll wait, this can surely be disposed of in a sentence or two", I was wrong. (Yeah, that's on me, not him.)

This classic sums it up perfectly (long but worth it):

quote:

---

Let's say a guy named Roger is attracted to a woman named Elaine. He asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, and again they enjoy themselves. They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else.

And then, one evening when they're driving home, a thought occurs to Elaine, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: "Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?"
And then there is silence in the car. To Elaine, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself: Geez, I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he's been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn't want, or isn't sure of.

And Roger is thinking: Gosh. Six months.

And Elaine is thinking: But, hey, I'm not so sure I want this kind of relationship, either. Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I'd have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily toward . . . I mean, where are we going? Are we just going to keep seeing each other at this level of intimacy? Are we heading toward marriage? Toward children? Toward a lifetime together? Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person?

And Roger is thinking: . . . so that means it was . . . let's see . . February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer's, which means . . . lemme check the odometer . . . Whoa! I am way overdue for an oil change here.

And Elaine is thinking: He's upset. I can see it on his face. Maybe I'm reading this completely wrong. Maybe he wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment; maybe he has sensed -- even before I sensed it -- that I was feeling some reservations. Yes, I bet that's it. That's why he's so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He's afraid of being rejected.

And Roger is thinking: And I'm gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don't care what those morons say, it's still not shifting right. And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time. What cold weather? It's 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600.

And Elaine is thinking: He's angry. And I don't blame him. I'd be angry, too. I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm just not sure.

And Roger is thinking: They'll probably say it's only a 90- day warranty. That's exactly what they're gonna say, the scumballs.

And Elaine is thinking: maybe I'm just too idealistic, waiting for a knight to come riding up on his white horse, when I'm sitting right next to a perfectly good person, a person I enjoy being with, a person I truly do care about, a person who seems to truly care about me. A person who is in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy.

And Roger is thinking: Warranty? They want a warranty? I'll give them a warranty. I'll take their warranty and stick it right up their ......

"Roger," Elaine says aloud.

"What?" says Roger, startled.

"Please don't torture yourself like this," she says, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. "Maybe I should never have . . Oh, I feel so......"

(She breaks down, sobbing.)

"What?" says Roger.

"I'm such a fool," Elaine sobs. "I mean, I know there's no knight. I really know that. It's silly. There's no knight, and there's no horse."

"There's no horse?" says Roger.

"You think I'm a fool, don't you?" Elaine says.

"No!" says Roger, glad to finally know the correct answer.

"It's just that . . . It's that I . . . I need some time," Elaine says.

(There is a 15-second pause while Roger, thinking as fast as he can, tries to come up with a safe response. Finally he comes up with one that he thinks might work.)

"Yes," he says.

(Elaine, deeply moved, touches his hand.)

"Oh, Roger, do you really feel that way?" she says.

"What way?" says Roger.

"That way about time," says Elaine.

"Oh," says Roger. "Yes."

(Elaine turns to face him and gazes deeply into his eyes, causing him to become very nervous about what she might say next, especially if it involves a horse. At last she speaks.)

"Thank you, Roger," she says.

"Thank you," says Roger.

Then he takes her home, and she lies on her bed, a conflicted, tortured soul, and weeps until dawn, whereas when Roger gets back to his place, he opens a bag of Doritos, turns on the TV, and immediately becomes deeply involved in a rerun of a tennis match between two Czechoslovakians he never heard of. A tiny voice in the far recesses of his mind tells him that something major was going on back there in the car, but he is pretty sure there is no way he would ever understand what, and so he figures it's better if he doesn't think about it.

The next day Elaine will call her closest friend, or perhaps two of them, and they will talk about this situation for six straight hours. In painstaking detail, they will analyze everything she said and everything he said, going over it time and time again, exploring every word, expression, and gesture for nuances of meaning, considering every possible ramification. They will continue to discuss this subject, off and on, for weeks, maybe months, never reaching any definite conclusions, but never getting bored with it, either.

Meanwhile, Roger, while playing racquetball one day with a mutual friend of his and Elaine's, will pause just before serving, frown, and say:

"Norm, did Elaine ever own a horse?"

Dave Barry

---

quote:

---

Why does it bother women so much that men don't express their thoughts?

---

Because we know what will follow any thought expression.....she'll say "we need to talk".

Pretty much sums it up

quote:

---

The bigger question is why don't married people take the initiative to learn all the ways how men and women are different?

---

There are just too many differences and it gives us a headache to think about it and all we want to do was watch the last 2 minutes of the game

quote:

---

Once you understand the opposite sex better and learn to live to fulfill each other's needs,

---

Ahhhhh no...women are impossible to understand

quote:

---

I've noticed this from personal experience. It drives em nuts if you don't tell em every little thing that's on your mind.

---

even worse when i have absoultely nothing on my nind.

my g/f finds it strange how i can zone out and read a book or play a video game and not have some thought to share with her while i do it. She sometimes thinks im mad because i'm being quiet.