Thursday, January 08, 2009

A Test I'm Proud to Fail


Are YOU a suitable husband or wife from the 1930s? According to this test I am not even close.

I scored a 42 out of 100. That's an F, I'm pretty sure, although the quiz is generous enough to call me "average". Apparently my propensity for gossip, drinking, occasional swearing, eating garlic, and serving food from cans, combined with me not praising my husband's strength and maculinity in public, smiling with delight at every "marital congress", and keeping myself, perfumed, dainty, and feminine counted against me.

Damn it. I need a beer and a Blooming Onion. I think I'll go out after work and talk about this with my friends. My sensitive husband can fix dinner for the kids--I think I have a can of Hunt's spaghetti sauce somewhere. Maybe when I get home he'll be too tired to want to do it and I can try to find my missing deoderant.

Update: Mark just took the quiz and scored a whopping 97 out of 100. Jinkies! He would've been a great catch back in the Depression era, something I've always realized. He is very hardworking, even-tempered, and humble. There is no job that he wouldn't do if we needed the money and while I have teased him plenty in the past for being kind of tight with money (in the way that Britney Spears is kind of a train wreck) the truth is, if we were stuck I would turn it all over to him and we'd survive because of this thrift and propensity to patch and reuse. He's a man for the ages.

What I noticed after doing both quizzes is that a lot of the qualities admired back then for men are still admired today--things like ambitious, hard working, good provider, religious, involved with family, helpful around the house. It seems that women's roles have changed considerably--I lost points on wearing pajamas instead of nightgowns, for squeezing the toothpaste from the top, for wearing socks in the house, for wearing soiled clothes while doing housework. While I was supposed to keep up a very clean organized house and serve delicious well-balanced meals on a thrifty budget and clean, mend, and sew clothes, I also seemed to have to have a much higher standard of care regarding my personal appearance.

Today's standards would include being able to manage one's blog, particularly the color of the type. So I guess I might not do so well now, either.

4 comments:

Karen said...

Wow. That's all, just wow.

andalucy said...

you are so funny. I got a 44, so there! But I do think that little tudor house is to die for.

Being a 30's housewife doesn't sound very appealing, but how about a 40's screen siren? I can't decide if I'd rather be a screwball comedienne or a film noir siren.

Mama Ava said...

I agree with the assessment of being a 1930s housewife...the pressure might be a bit much--I mean, crooked seams on my hose? Really!

I think I'd go for the screwball comedienne. So many of them were so beautiful! Like Lucille Ball in the early days. And Carole Lombard. You could be stunning AND funny.

Mama Ava said...

Actually I had to predict before taking the test, I would've scored myself much much lower than either Calandria or Karen. They are both more "home-ecky" than I am by far (Karen is a serious knitter and crafter, and both of them are good cooks and make more really home-made meals than I do.

But even though those qualities were important, it was more those other physical appearance things that stood out. I can't speak for Calandria but both Karen and I share an affinity for fleece socks and flannel pajamas, big no-nos.