Men v. Women: Little Shopping Horrors

Lawrence Henry:

I coined a new word the other day. My wife has finally decided, after her old car added an oil hemorrhage to a list of already-existing ills (the locks don't work; the a/c doesn't work, etc., etc.) that she wants to buy a new car. "New" means new to her. We're looking at used cars. She wants me to help her, and, indeed, car shopping is something I'm pretty good at.

But, after a week of talking about available models, her desires, how much she wanted to spend, and the like, I found myself getting exasperated, the way a man will.

"Look," I said. "Just give me whatever the maximum amount of money you can stand to spend is, in cash, and I'll get on the phone and go out and manshop for a car for you and come back in an hour."

No, she didn't want to do that. And, after a day apart from one another, we both reached the same set of conclusions. She felt more comfortable buying a car from a dealer than from a private party. And she wanted to look at and drive a number of different models before making up her mind.

WordGirl and I used to go through this all the time. I'm pleased to say she now is too irascible to take a lot of time to buy something.