I am glad I never heard d-bag used before and find it completely out of order on a website devoted to the art of manliness. I understand hell and damn which usually are not necessary either, but at least they do not conjure up pictures of something done by an unclothed woman in the privacy of her bathroom. Get the picture?

To speak negatively about the woman one has married is not manly either, but such an appellation says nothing about the lack of character in the man to whom you are referring, where ‘foolish’ or ‘thoughtless person’ would be much more descriptive and get the point across better.

Sincerely, Jean

Wow – Did you see that Transunion went live with FICO 08 in February! Equifax is rolling it out this fall but Experian won\’t say when or even if they are releasing FICO 08….

Perhaps I was being a bit of a prude; however I have been frequenting the AOM quite often lately and am trying to curb certain habits. I do believe that there is something to be said about a man who understands the art of being a gentleman. I also believe that many of the women that I know appreciate a man that understands this “art”.

G-d knows that I use plenty of foul language in front of people (women included). It is something that I am trying to control moving forward. Maybe this was a personal case of the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other.

I admittedly use “douche bag” a lot in both my writing and my verbal communications. Perhaps it is a weakness, but truth be told, I just find the word really amusing. It doesn’t seem crass to me, it just makes me chuckle. I do use it around most women, although I probably wouldn’t around children. The former do read the blog, while I doubt the latter do. To me douche bag it up there with “damn” and “hell” which aren’t grievous swears and instead can be use to pepper your communications now and then. But I respect that everyone’s tolerance level for certain words is different and every man must make up his own mind about which words are appropriate.

Don’t you preach that a man should use a certain level of decorum in his communications?

Taken from your book:
“Avoid profane language. Profanity is a mark of low breeding. If
you must swear, avoid doing so in front of ladies and small children.”

Perhaps you are taking the viewpoint that ladies and small children do not frequent this site; I also understand that “douchebag” may not necessarily be considered a profanity, but it is not a word I would use in front of a woman.

Please understand, I would bet that I use profanity more than the average person, I was just surprised to see it in your posting.

Just my two cents…

I go much further that that. I find that commercial morally offensive, as if the marker of whether you should marry someone is a score assigned by a corporation. He even says, “I married my dream girl”, but, instead of being incredibly happy and thankful, and together working through her past mistakes, he sits whining and wishing had his dream house, instead. Not much of a man, methinks. He should-a spent some time reading your blog.

(I actually didn’t see that commercial for a long time, and figured they pulled it cause even freecreditreport.com saw how disgusting the message is, but it’s back. Can’t say that I’m surprised.)

My wife is a stay at home mother. Does that mean that she can’t have any money at all? Heck, it’s ‘MY’ money, I earned it! If she wants to spend something, she can go out and get her own money! I don’t think so.

Believe it or not, a woman can actually survive after her husband is dead, even if they only had one joint account.

All that crap aside, you absolutely must communicate with each other about the budget. Money problems can be really hard on a marriage, but you are in it together. Everything is together. You are now one flesh. Communicate about everything.

Your post has made it much easier for me. Thanks