Name Calling

My boy and I have an unusual way of showing each other affection.

Generally it comes by way of calling each other names.

We've even made it into a game where we come up with as many insulting names as we can, and whoever runs out of insults first, loses.

It goes a little something like this:

"Jerk."

"Moron."

"Idiot."

"Butthead."

And eventually one of us has to either repeat a word or come up with something lame enough to determine the loser.

It's awesome.

Even when we're not playing the game, we're still really good at being mean to each other. We sometimes have conversations like this:

"Shut up. I hate you."

"You shut up. You're such an idiot."

"You're an even bigger idiot."

"Hey, remember that time I loved you? Yeah, pretty sure I'm over it."

"Well, I've been over it for a long time. And I hate you more."

The thing is, I'm not sure we know how to interact with each other without making fun of each other.

I once watched a Dr. Phil with a couple on it who had a habit of calling each other names. They were horrible names, but you've never seen a couple more in love. They were the cutest things ever, and their name-calling was just a way of showing each other affection. Dr. Phil called it "coding" because they used code in communicating with each other.

I guess that's what we do.

I've heard from other couples who are shocked at our behavior, who would never call each other such names, who would never kid around like that. They think it's awful.

I think couples that don't do that...are...honestly? Just a little weird. And really, really boring. If you can't have fun with each other, if you can't joke around...what's the point?