Well this thread has taken a weird turn.
I’m very happy, thank you.
It’s exceedingly rare that my wife gets her back up about anything that much. She has very few hot buttons, but I’m not going to hammer on the ones that she does have.
Right. I read this thread and thought, “Man, you people fraternize with some serious douchebags.”
I’ve been given the silent treatment before by men. I don’t see those men anymore. Because they’re douches.
I’m in the US, and I don’t know women like this either. I don’t hang out with douchebags.
What she said.
Seriously, neither you or your partner has ever said anything ridiculous in an argument? I thought it was pretty funny, and I think it’s a bit much to say that Dio is unhappy because he caved on one thing that is obviously important to his wife.
There is a vast difference between “caving” and “always caving.” Caving on things that are way more important to your partner than they are to you is something a lot of people do. It’s basic consideration for the other person’s happiness.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 
Really? Women have been told that to the point of exertion. The reason there is no similar saying is because it has always been a given that we are supposed to “nurse the fragile male ego”.
Oh well, some of us prefer happy marriages to being right about small things. As I say, one of the secrets to a happy marriage is not battling to the last man for every molehill. That way lies madness.
I’d rather my husband didn’t hog the TV with sports all the time, or didn’t think that Golf on TV is exciting to watch, but it doesn’t matter enough for me to a)argue about it, or b)even buy another TV. If we cannot agree on who gets the TV we’ll hardly agree on the important stuff.
I have threatened my husband with worse. We both know I don’t mean it.
I always assumed it was implied that women should defer (or appear to defer) to their husbands lest their husbands decide to have sex with the secretary or something. That’s what I was taught when I was younger - create a serene, enjoyable environment for your husband at home or he’ll trade you in for a newer model. Then again, my dad did leave my mother for his secretary. Still, I remember my mom telling me, “overly, now you know men don’t like argumentative women. It’s unseemly and makes you look like a harpy.” For what it’s worth, I’m 33.
Anyway, to the OP - you say you never cave about anything. Does your wife? It seems like you would have a really combative household if neither of you ever stood down.
Whoa.
Okay, scratch what I was going to say. In short:
We here cannot, individually or collectively, come to a definite conclusion about what is “generally” true. And even if we could, I’d argue that in human relationships in general and love in specific, it’s usually not helpful to extrapolate the characteristics of an individual from those of a group. Better to actually know that person, and deal accordingly.
We can say, though, more or less 100% of the time, that *this * is true: If the specific person you’re dealing with cares more than you do, this is probably not the hill you want to die on.
So if that’s true always for everyone, why do men in particular get this advice about their wives? And why do women (as indeed they do) get this advice about their husbands?
Perhaps because a marriage is considered to be a much more important interpersonal relationship than most. If you’re fighting with your coworker, you might decide that being right about who forgot to order copier toner is more important than maintaining harmony, because that relationship just doesn’t matter that much. But most people value their marriage over just about every issue, piddling or huge, that comes through it. Yet many newlyweds assume that because they value their marriage so highly, it will be able to weather any storm. Those who have been married a while know this is not the case. And so they consider it worth restating, though it should go without saying, that in this above all other relationships, you really want to choose your battles wisely.
Women get told this all the time, just with different language. The wife equivalent to the advice you’re railing against is “Make him think it’s his idea even when it’s not; the male ego can’t handle a woman telling him what to do.”
It’s a mistake to think that women aren’t taught to be accomodating and placating. If anything, they get this message drummed into the heads so much that as a group they people-please too much.
I’m starting to think you’re assuming the dymanics in your household are universal. I also think you’re interpreting this touch-in-cheek advice way too literally. If you and your wife are arguing all the time and in a hurtful manner, that’s a problem that the “women is right…” cliche wasn’t meant to solve. Something is wrong and you might want to see what it is. Of course, I’m not a marriaged counselor, nor am I married.
Sometimes I wonder if we all spend most of our days outside the home getting beaten up, taking shit, and placating each other that we simply have no forbearance remaining when we come home (both male and female).
Sometimes I wonder just what kinda world some folks live in…what with the wife beating, fragile ego stereotypes that are getting tossed about here.
Actually this was one of the more fundamental ideas I learnt in sales - and it applied to people (i.e either gender),
People ALWAYS react better to anything when they think its their idea, regardless of sex
Kind of like how “the wife is always right…” sounds a lot like “the customer is always right.”