Tuesday, January 03, 2006

an idle question

This occurred to me whilst washing a dish in the sink.......... why is there a word, 'uxorious', for a man who loves his wife excessively, when there is no corresponding word (that I know of) for a woman?

My take on the whole thing is...we women love our men so deeply and thoroughly that it is not unusual. It is simply expected of us. Hence there is no term for loving greatly. (Though there is of course that famous book, "Women who Love Too Much"!)

I asked Fatty this question. He has become used to my questions, now, and rather than replying, " Now why would you think of something like THAT?", he will skip over this and my resultant tangential explanations, and will simply answer me. His response (stated plainly but with telltale twinkle in his eyes): "That's because women have no love in their hearts. The greatest emotion they can muster for their husbands is fondness." OUCH!

Now you may answer (or rebut Fatty. Or rebut me. Or remain silent, whatever!)

8 comments:

Motherkitty said...

The dictionary tells us that "uxorious" means "excessively submissive or devoted to one's wife." I think in today's society it would be extremely rare to find such a man. (If you find one, hang on to him.)

The Latin word for wife is "uxor" and the Latin word for husband is "viri." So a corresponding word could be "viriious" which might mean "excessively submissive or devoted to one's husband." (Would that work?)

In the patriarchal Bible, man, according to God's ordinance and the story of Adam and Eve, is portrayed as dominate and woman remains submissive. In Women's Lib, partners are equal and are free to love equally. I prefer Women's Lib.

Heather said...

I had never heard of such a word. But I think my husband qualifies. I think there is no such word for women because, like you said, we are expected to love our husband's to death naturally.

Anonymous said...

well I know my husband is not uxoriuos, but he is jeliuos.

Alice said...

Heavens, Jelly, I'm so exhausted from trying to unravel the meaning of 'uxorious' (which I'd not heard of)that I'm in no condition to love or be loved.

TUFFENUF said...

What was Fatty doing while you were washing dishes?

Jellyhead said...

Motherkitty, I like that word, 'viriious'. Although if being submissive is involved, I don't think I'd qualify!

Heather I'm sure your hubby is uxorious - he sounds so devoted the way you describe him.

dbd4-2d, does your hubby get jealous, really? Mine NEVER does and it annoys me. Just a tiny smidge of jealousy would be good!

Alice don't try to pretend you are muddle-headed! (Whether or nor you had heard of 'uxorious', we all know you're a smarty-pants brainy woman!)

Tuffenuf, to answer your question about what Fatty was doing... I believe he was in the bathroom, shaving. I wandered in to ask my weird question. He answered me with foam on his whiskery face.

Judypatooote said...

That is so funny calling your husband Fatty.....does he have a special name for you? My husband use to call me Precious Pumpkins.... all the guys at his work knew me a Precious...now that he is gone I'm wondering what did he mean by pumkins.....hummmmmm

John Cowart said...

Hi Jellyhead,

As a male, I hesitate to enter this discussion with the ladies, but I do have a few observations.

How can a person love excessively?

I’ve never heard anyone say the word "uxorious" in spoken conversation, only in the written word. Inevitably the writer uses the word as a derogatory expression with the connotation being a weak, wimpy male. It’s a term normally expressed as hen-pecked, although there is another slang term not suitable to be used in someone else’s blog.

However, I’ve noticed that the pejorative name for such a husband is used only by writers who don’t seemed to be loved by their own spouses. Can there be an element of bitterness or envy there?

As far as a word for a woman deeply in love with her husband goes – here, I’m speaking as a guy – I kinda like “Horny”.