Image: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
In Brief
- The trait that initially attracts you to a person often later becomes your partner’s most irksome feature.
- Repeated exposure, disillusionment and the inescapability of a long-term partnership tend to make a spouse’s traits more grating than the quirks of others.
- Learning to reclassify annoying behaviors, increasing awareness of one’s own flaws and sharing new experiences can help turn those peccadilloes back into perks.
Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc., from Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us, by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman. Copyright © 2011 by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman. This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and the Wiley Web site at www.wiley.com, or call 1-800-225-5945.
There are people who meet, fall in love, stay married for their entire lives, and never have an unkind word for their spouses. Then there are the other seven billion people on the planet.
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4 Comments
Add CommentIt's because she leaves trash on the counter when there is a trash can next to her.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh- we're not after specifics? Never mind- feel better now.
Haha David I have the same frustration.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do you reclassify annoying behaviors that are absolutely stupid? Delightfully idiotic?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAND .....I don't need to be made anymore aware of my own flaws 'cos she lists them and updates them daily on the whiteboard on the refrigerator.
Marriage is for the birds!
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