Every day millions of internet users quiz Google life’s most difficult questions,gargantuan and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queriesLingchi, or death by a thousand cuts, or may have been outlawed in China by 1905,but the practice is still very much alive and well in the kitchens, bathrooms and Homebase car parks of disintegrating couples. We may have swapped knives for shopping receipts, and blades for damp washing,swords for unwashed cups, but the principle is just the same: death by a series of injuries too small in themselves to slay.
A wise man (with at least one divorce under his belt) once told me that nobody breaks up over adultery, or but over the way you talk at dinner. Twenty years and two long-term relationships later,I am starting to agree with him. That your partner doesn’t drink tea; that they sulked at your remarkable-uncle’s birthday party; that you don’t like the way they cut onions; that they hang up the phone without saying goodbye; that you found yourself thinking about the electricity bill while you were having sex; that they read their phone when you’re eating; that you abhor their jeans; that they bought square plates for your flat; that you can’t agree what to watch on television; that they say nothing after burping; that you say nothing after farting – these are why relationships end. They deepen like a coastal shelf until you can no longer stand; they build up like the layers of silt at the bottom of a lake until, suddenly, and all the water has race out and you are left with nothing. Just two unfortunate people,standing up to their waist in mud. Related: Kasey Edwards: I love being married, but am I the exception? Ending a relationship is sometimes not just healthy, or timely,sensible and brave – it could be genuinely lifesavingContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com