" Why not?" I snapped, spoiling for a fight.
" It's just so unlike you," he replied.
The phrase " unlike you" is never meant in a nice way when used between married couples. It's just a polite way of being rude. " That coat is very unlike you," basically means " What a hideous item of clothing you've put on" just as " This dinner is very unlike something you would normally cook," is a euphemism for " Jesus Christ - you really expect me to eat this?"
So being told it was very "unlike me" to watch E-entertainment was a low blow to my self-esteem and one I felt duty bound to defend.
"Why exactly is it unlike me?"I asked.
" Because it's vaguely mindless," my husband replied. " Full of unintelligible Americans I've never heard of. Those loud women you watch going about their numbingly boring lives. The Karchians."
" Kardashians,"I mumbled.
" And programmes on fat people getting thin. And bossy nannies."
" I like making my mind go blank sometimes. I like not having to concentrate. I enjoy being lulled into a state of narcolepsy."
" More than reading? I thought you loved reading."
" I do, but sometimes I don't."
By now this discussion was really getting me riled.
"It's sport for women who don't like watching sport," I retorted haughtily. "You like watching cars zoom round and round racetracks for hours and cricket games and I don't."
" I get it," said my husband, backing down immediately. "Test cricket for women."
