Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly for December 24, 2020

Guess who gets left off the next invitation list?…..

Females… you have to speak plainly to males. Their minds are like railroad tracks… they only work forward or back. Males… you mostly know this… female minds are like mapping a plate of spaghetti.

Everybody knows “no gifts” means gifts No, only the same people who tell you the party starts at 7 when it really starts at 9.

Truth in Advertising?

One of the many things I love about my wife, what she says is what she means.

I find that kind of implied message invitation very frustrating. I’m with Shoe in this. Also, when I say “Please don’t give me any gifts”, I mean it. At my age, I don’t want to accumulate more stuff. I do like to give gifts, but it’s usually a situation where I know someone wants something and I’m relatively sure I’m not just giving to satisfy a tradition.

I feel that we men fall into two broad categories when it comes to women being subtle with us. Now the “players” are always reading between the lines and will pick up on what you are trying to say. The purely logical nerds and geeks like me take words at face value, like Shoe. If you want to be subtle, smack us between the eyes with a two by four and inform us in a loud voice, “I’m about to be subtle.” Then go ahead and make your subtle statement. We may get it. Or not.

Good advice. Women never seem to catch on that men don’t recognize glares, sighs, finger tapping and lies as open and honest communication.

To me “no gifts” means no gifts

Males are literalists; females are nuance-ists. The barrier between them is impenetrable.

@I Mad Am I — sure wish I could disagree with your statement about women’s brains, but I can’t, LOLOL

If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear. If we ask what’s wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing is wrong.

It’s the one case where ‘no’ does mean ‘yes’.