...just joking.

wifing and mothering aren't jobs.
how do i know? because i can't find any ads in the paper for either. and how much do these jobs pay?

THE TIMES FOR CONJUGAL DUTY PRESCRIBED IN THE TORAH ARE: FOR MEN OF INDEPENDENCE, EVERY DAY; FOR LABOURERS, TWICE A WEEK; FOR ASS-DRIVERS, ONCE A WEEK; FOR CAMEL-DRIVERS, ONCE IN THIRTY DAYS; FOR SAILORS, ONCE IN SIX MONTHS. THESE ARE?

wife = emotional partner? companion? counsel? muse? receiver of unexpected gifts? firm but fair? (no, wait, that's 4th form dean)

(no word from the ladies yet? i hope they are not all busy baking scones)

P.S. Is saying "got" a wife ok? I know "own" is out of the question :)

I'm betting it's one of Paul's.

It is. Titus lived on Crete, was bishop there I think.

I lived on Crete, in a bay called Agios Pavlos (St Paul) where we had a small cave, with a tiny church carved into rock, where St Paul apparently took shelter at one?

I'm not sure about the full context of the conversation you were referring to Emma: were they talking specifically about the job of a "wife" in a way that would be different from more generally being a "spouse" or "life partner"?

I'm honestly not sure, Tom, and I'd hate to?

Only once a week for the ass drivers? That hardly seems fair.

Who'd want to be a sailor, tho?

it could indicate a use for my lightsabre and thigh-boots.

Can you send me photos?

Only once a week for the ass drivers? That hardly seems fair.

Wow, that could be made into a brutal double entendre.

So Titus 2 is the prequel to Titus Andronicus then?

It did cross my mind to wonder if it was in LOLCat.

Can you send me photos?

Sure. They may not be entirely genuine, of course...

Surely being a wife's not a job when it's such fun?

Indeed, which is?

men are a bit shit.

Ah, that was a hit on the nail head moment. Thanks.

I wonder if Andy Capp could have saved you a few biblical definitions?

http://comics.com/andy_capp/

Wow, that could be made into a brutal double entendre.

Guilty has charged.

Make that "as charged".

"Ass charged"? We can do this all day.

We can do this all day.

Only once a week, I'm afraid.

I don't really see being a wife (or life-partner or whatever it is I'm identifying as) and being a mother as truly separate roles

And yet there are mothers who aren't wives, and wives who aren't mothers. Perhaps it's because most mothers are also wives (or in a similar relationship?

Oh man, if I apply Tom's metaphor to my life, I'm unemployed with the occasional bout of berry-picking.

Excellent! Can we swap lives?

I'm not entirely sure what that means either, though it could indicate a use for my lightsabre and thigh-boots.

Wild applause! Too much awesome for one blog!

Was there anyone he liked?

I was surprised when I read Paul's letters properly. I came to the conclusion that I don't think I'd enjoy his company.

And yet there are mothers who aren't wives, and wives who aren't mothers.

And surely the married-but-childless and the childed-but-marriageless would still be a part of a family/household. However your family is structured the roles and responsibilities you have towards each other member get utterly entangled

which is the harder job, being a mother, or being a wife

I'm not entirely sure what that means either, though it could indicate a use for my lightsabre and thigh-boots.

Wild applause! Too much awesome for one blog!

This is why it's so disappointing for people when they meet me.

I was surprised when I read Paul's letters properly. I came?

I'm not one of those people who believes you marry your best friend. But maybe that's just me.

May partner literally was my best friend for about five years before I figured out that he did it for me in ways that weren't merely intellectual. That may well colour the?

Oh man, if I apply Tom's metaphor to my life, I'm unemployed with the occasional bout of berry-picking.

Berries, eh? Is that what they're calling it these day?

And I guess the "job" metaphor could be (over)extended in all sorts of directions. Freelancing, moonlighting, underemployment, self-employment, going on a sabbatical,?

And I guess the "job" metaphor could be (over)extended in all sorts of directions.

You've got that right.

May partner literally was my best friend for about five years before I figured out that he did it for me in ways that weren't merely intellectual. That may well colour the way I see our relationship in ways I'm not even aware of.

And my relationship journey has been?

"you're evil, and you're going straight to Hell'. His response was 'I hope so, I'd hate to never see you again'.

Awww, that is so sweet.

men are a bit shit.

obviously very important, and precludes becoming vice-president in a way that being corrupt and bat-fuck crazy seemingly doesn't

the kind submissive self-controlled pure ship has sailed

Too much win for one post Emma. People in the lab are wondering why I'm LOLing at my sequence?

Having stuffed up one relationship in my life

Only one? C'mon, that's a bit slack.

Luckily, I've carried some of your load for you, no need for thanks.

Such a conflict of interest could potentially lead to one questioning one's own purpose or role on a public domain.

Or not, whatever. 'One' could be perfectly sure that 'one's purpose' was to be entertaining while not making Russell's life any more difficult than, say, Craig. 'One' could also be?

Why don't I ever understand anything Mark says?

I think there may be some kind of automated prose-generator underneath. Many of the sentences are grammatically correct – or close to it – but don't make any actual sense.

Fair enough Emma, that's your job and you do it well, I couldn't even stay away a month, what I meant was, when that entertainment flies in the face of the sentiments that you're 'required' to express as a mother/wife. Not?

old skool thread. contradictions in expecation of wife in marriage.
women must work and be good wives
this can require conflict of interest

For example If our day job were to encourage people to celebrate truancy, but our night job were to discourage our children from?

(Also, did you just call Emma a hypocrite?)

Seems to me that given the huge diversity of relationships even within PA that defining the actual activities is going to be hard for either wife or husband job.

That is pretty much my first thought. There are a number of people here – and I'm one of them -?

Dumbass A reporting for duty: how is being a wife incompatible with being a writer?

I'm not sure asking for clarification is going to clarify anything, sadly. Some of the words will come out in a different order, while not making much more sense.

If our day job were to encourage people to celebrate truancy

I'd love to see what the hiring discussion I had with Russell looks like in Mark's head, I think I might hurt myself laughing. "But what I'm really looking for is someone to advocate truancy..."

There are a number?

well, duh, obviously it is husband's job to put IN.
or has someone else already pointed this out?

That's what happened to parenting-role (as opposed to parenting temperament) stereotypes in our house. Otherwise we just work to our strengths. My partner, bless him, cannot cook. I cannot fix the internet when it breaks.

And I cannot drive, and my son, then five – in observing a male friend?

[I'm] also the person who says 'okay, off you go, let me know if you need an ambulance'.

If you want to be the cool mum, you'd give your child a mobile phone and say "okay, off you go, call yourself an ambulance if you need one."

I think it would come down to fear=respect Danielle.

Well, that cleared that up, then.

Only one? C'mon, that's a bit slack.

Well apart from schoolboy stuff, yeah just one.

But I did it really well if that gets me more style points :).

for the dumb asses

Arses please. I'm not a donkey!

Arses please. I'm not a donkey!

You're not keen on a weekly ass-driving then?

I found it was becoming a mother that changed how I behaved as a partner/spouse. Example – I started baking the?

I suspect the gentleman has grand-children staying for the school holidays and is getting rather weary....

WHY do we have children?...

Good question. I'm in charge of getting firewood.

I'm sure my mum is quietly worried about who will save whom from spiders when my girl and I get CUed. Like we're?

I'd love to see what the hiring discussion I had with Russell looks like in Mark's head, I think I might hurt myself laughing. "But what I'm really looking for is someone to advocate truancy..."

I'm sure it was all clean and above board; D
happy new year.

WHY do we have children?...

A few explanations suggest themselves:

1. its something to do with genes being such selfish little bastards.

2. The Supreme Being told us to Go Forth and Mulitply so by crikey we'd better.

3. to fill an aching void of meaning.

4. 'it'll be safe,?

unemployed with the occasional bout of berry-picking

Boy senberries , perhaps? :)

Dumbass A reporting for duty: how is being a wife incompatible with being a writer?

I'm not sure asking for clarification is going to clarify anything, sadly. Some of the words will come out in a different order, while not making much more sense.

I didn't say being a wife?

Boysenberries , perhaps? :)

Well, mostly ...

I'm sure my mum is quietly worried about who will save whom from spiders when my girl and I get CUed. Like we're both going be standing on a chair screaming to the other one "GET IT!".

LOLZ

My partner used to be?

My partner used to be a bit leery of spiders, but I'm utterly terrified, so he's had to show a bit more ovarian fortitude.

You can, at least in the land of opportunity, buy special little vacuum cleaners designed to suck up insects from Quite A Long Way Away. I?

However when we are?

Surely one important differentiator between wife/mother is the power dynamics. Ideally, the husband/wife relationship is a relatively equal one (unless you're very old-school), while the mother-child relationship has an inherent large power imbalance. And as we all know, with power comes?

Am I the only one here who likes spiders?

Nope.

When I lived with my ex-boyfriend the role of spider-wrangler was definitely mine. He didn't like them. At all. I was fine with bugs, flies, spiders and insects. I was also the light-bulb changer (even though he was a foot?

I was also the light-bulb changer (even though he was a foot taller)

My mother is odd about light-bulb changing. The bulb on her staircase is really hard to reach. Changing it was always my brothers' job – which made sense, as they're all over six feet tall. Or it?

I'd heard second-hand that Jewish religious law had a section on how often men were required to satisfy their wives, based on their occupation. I thought it might be amusing to post here, so I went googling for it, and that was the best hit I found.

An aquaintance published?

You're quite right – Jewish law on sexual relations in marriage is framed in terms of the husband's conjugal duties to the wife. Failure to provide them to her is grounds for divorce.

(I have a book?

It had rules supposedly from the Koran or something about beastiality and so forth.

The Protocols of the Elders of Animal Husbandry.

I have a book which claims that Turkish Muslims used to have to promise to keep their wives supplied with coffee, which strikes me as potentially relevant to modern marriage vows in Wellington

That's the whole basis of my relationship.

My claim to fame is the lbig new tetragnathoid I discovered (new to science that is.)

Hey, respect! That puts you in a similar league to the august Tim Flannery, though with 16 new mammal species to his credit he's got a pretty impressive lead.

Around ten years ago I?

I have a well-repressed desire to try frizzled tarantula (one of the very few edible spiders) – well repressed because I think them rather noble beasts, and the chances?

. . . I think them rather noble beasts . . .

Know what you mean. Apparently the story that tarantulas shatter when dropped isn't a myth, urban or otherwise.

Reported to Taste Like Chicken.

Frogs-legs also taste like chicken, reportedly. I've only eaten them out of a tin. But the frogs legs I ate tasted more
more reptilian than bird.

And yep, tarantulas (and all spiders) are members of the great order Arthropoda(shrimps/slaters/sawflies et al) so could shatter-

I tried to find the only funny (to me) Garfield cartoon, but cant: it roughly goes like?

fairly bland meat

Nothing that a few hours in a good homemade marinade wouldn't cure.

But that doesn't explain why I now hear of spider biting when I had never done so before. Are there more of them now?

Maybe they've found out about the bug vacuums and they're fighting back?

I don't mind insects/arachnids on the whole, but am suitably revolted by infestations. Have?

I have a well-repressed desire to try frizzled tarantula (one of the very few edible spiders) – well repressed because I think them rather noble beasts, and the chances of getting one to frizzle in ANZ are -very very very remote. Reported to Taste Like Chicken.

There was an article?

Apologies to anyone eating breakfast....

You know what's pretty good? Alligator.

Especially when eaten at the New Orleans Jazz and heritage festival.

Aligator Po'boy – basically a filled roll – it did taste like slightly gamey chicken, but it's all about the experience right.

Aligator Po'boy – basically a filled roll

It should be noted that the last poboy I ate bore only the vaguest of resemblances to a fillled roll, in that there was bread with stuff inside it, but none of the fillings were in any way healthy. Deep fried shrimp and?

I have had years on end without crawfish. There should be a law against that.

You can't approximate them with (freshwater) koura?

You can't approximate them with (freshwater) koura?

I have pondered that. But who sells them? Is there even an industry, or is it just ad hoc harvesting? DOC says you aren't allowed to buy them, just gather for personal use...

In the house it might include cooking, cleaning, cleaning-up-after, tidying, organising, beautifying, gardening, home maintenance, doing shopping, budgeting, paying bills, doing laundry, repairing clothes and sewing on buttons and name-tags, making clothes, organising activities and co-ordinating schedules within the household. These things aren't really covered by "parenting".

Very few if?

About this word, "home-maker", I think housework definitely is part of it, but I think it also covers taking responsibility for anything that needs doing in the house or for the household.

There appears to be an almost intangible spiritual angle to it though – like the difference between 'house'?

All whanau,kids & grandkids from my various sibs, and cuzzies, know how to do the basics.?

Wives – remember birthday cards/gifts/phone calls/visits, buy vacuum cleaner bags, and make Christmas cakes (if anyone does).

I lost a great friend early last week. It was sad but long expected, and would have happened a lot sooner if she hadn't been such a tough one. Before she went into?

Given that statement. my father died when I was?

Fathers – I couldn't think of anything they specifically did.

Run BBQ stalls at school fairs? Dispense pocket money?

About this word, "home-maker", I think housework definitely is part of it, but I think it also covers taking responsibility for anything that needs doing in the house or for the household.

There appears to be an almost intangible spiritual angle to it though – like the difference between 'house'?

Fathers – I couldn't think of anything they specifically did

Encourage their children to take risks, if we're running with the stereotypes.

Be the bogeyman who dispensed physical punishment, for earlier generations. Kevin Ireland writes eloquently of the wave of suburban beatings that coincided with the return of fathers from?

Kevin Ireland writes eloquently of the wave of suburban beatings that coincided with the return of fathers from work in his childhood.

Hey, I read that years ago, it really stayed with me. Heartfelt stuff. I can't recall anything that got so close to the roots of the huge shift?

I am, for instance, about 100%?

Engendering a child – well, yeeeees, it can be done with any human male's sperm- but –

ok, just the one difference then.

And it sounds like you have a lovely wee whanau! Neat choice sweet!