Letters to the Editor
SB
Published Letters: 378 Editor's Choice: 18
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BodAbroad
[Read the article: I gave up everything to be with my Russian husband and now I'm unhappy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Marriage is about shared sacrifice", "it's all about shared sacrifice"
How could you afford to take time out from making your wife miserable to write such a letter? You'd better get back to work, Bod.
As for the LW's question, her obligation to the husband and his to her is to try to make it work. It sounds like she definitely has some growing up to do, but she isn't obliged to stay in an unhappy marriage to do it. My best guess is that ultimately the real issues are with the individuals and those need to be worked out before they can really be married.
"Lots of problems here" by jb and "Advice to American women" by no name given are on the right track, I think.
And what the hell is a "whinger"? Could that perhaps mean "whiner", someone such as BodAbroad?
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Whingers
[Read the article: I gave up everything to be with my Russian husband and now I'm unhappy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whing´er -
n. 1. A kind of hanger or sword used as a knife at meals and as a weapon. "The chief acknowledged that he had corrected her with his whinger." - Sir W. Scott.
Whinger -
1. Slang for someone who won't shut up. 2. Someone who is always complaining.
As in: Whinging Irish, Whinging Pom, whinging pommy bastard, whinging poms. (the only actual usage examples from the Urban Dictionary, nothing remotely American among those)
I apologize for my ignorance, though I have never heard this word used in England or in British media of any kind; and I certainly have not heard it used anywhere in the US.
HOWEVER, according to The Online Etymology Dictionary, and other sources I've looked at, whine and whinge DO seem to have the same root.
To wit: whine (v.) O.E. hwinan "to whiz or whistle through the air" (only of arrows), also hwinsian "to whine" (of dogs), ultimately of imitative origin (cf. O.N. hvina "to whiz," Ger. wiehern "to neigh"). Meaning "to complain in a feeble way" is first recorded 1530. The noun is from 1633. The northern form of O.E. hwinsian survives in dial. whinge "to complain peevishly."
At least, Alden, in my "peevish complaint" I addressed the actual question at hand!
And I will again: It seems in this situation that the Russian husband is doing more complaining that the actual LW. She moved to be with him and he's still not happy! Most Grad programs give you 7 or so years to actually finish, so if she gets moving, she might be able to finish. Maybe the whole experience will break that writer's block.
No one is being permanently harmed here, no one's bleeding from the head, no kids are involved; it's just a first marriage for 2 people who weren't ready to be married.
Always remember: "Life isn't meant to be enjoyed, it's meant to be gotten on with."
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phoning it in
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe he forgot to pay his Phoning It In bill...
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Oh Boy...
[Read the article: Arming our enemies?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I support the war and the aspirations of the Iraqi people" -
What the hell does that mean? There isn't an Iraqi body politic - Iraq consists of several groups of people who have no actual desire to from a country together, when you get right down to it. Iraq was a fake country held together by a dictator. Get rid of the dictator and his party, the country dissolves into civil war. The "Iraqi" people should never have been forced into forming a nation in the first place. It would appear that they aspire to divide the country up into Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish regions. Does killing the dictator and unleashing civil war count towards supporting their aspirations? Was that the point of the war? Joe, do you know what kind of HELL we've unleashed over there with this war of yours? Exactly what actual outcome do you expect, and how will it have been worth the pain?
Iraq's broken. We don't need to keep breaking it. Leaving the mess we made ALONE for 200 -300 years is probably the most helpful thing we can do at this point. We caused a train wreck, and now we're trying to 'treat' the victims with trepanation when we should just let them die in peace. Some things, once broken, CANNOT BE FIXED. Reality is ugly like that sometimes...