Monday, July 20, 2009

Semantics. Or girls do not poop or sweat: they eliminate and perspire.

When Dave and I moved in together he was still on the fence when it came to whether or not girls (and by association, women, including the woman he was moving in with, meaning me) had bowel movements.

Just recently have we both become comfortable with the topic enough to discuss them openly. We are coming up on our 3-year anniversary.

My family is the opposite of Dave's in many ways. Dave's family doesn't openly drink alcohol, no one smokes, they do not cuss or take the Lord's name in vain and they do not talk about bodily functions or sex. Of course, my family does all of these, mostly in moderation but often in excess.

And, just to clarify, I come from a family with a predominance of women. We talk about shit. Literally. And often.

This, until recently, was a taboo with Dave. It still makes him uncomfortable when the talk moves to bowel-related issues and why eating plenty of fiber is important among my family and relations.

I, however, grew up in a family where a good fart joke was almost guaranteed to make my oldest sister tinkle in her pants and where a decent bowel movement was celebrated by loud exclamations and wild gestures.

I cannot help but giggle when I imagine having these discussions with Dave's family.

5 comments:

Al In The County said...

You are one of the people I fear in social situations. :)

I grew up in a Scandanavian household and we were very much like your partner's family. Well, except people in my family did everything (drinking, smoking, right down the line), but we never ever ever talked about it.

Now I'm totally uncomfortable when subjects like this come up. In fact, I may be blushing now.

Miss Dallas said...

I think that's much the point with my family. I'm from a large family (5 kids, two parents and one grandparent) and we lived in close quarters. It doesn't take much to announce anything, and if you don't announce it yourself, someone is bound to do it for you!

stacy said...

i talk poop all the time! both kev and i happily announce a 'good one' and will often discuss what we had the day before that made everything function so well.

Lemon Gloria said...

He knows how lucky he is that he met you, right?

Anonymous said...

I can totally back you up that your family enjoys this!!! LOVE IT and that is what makes you guys so fabulous!