Answers I liked

[Portia]

It seems like everyone commenting here is female, and I don't know of any recently-married lesbians on this board. Why can't one's husband take half or all of thank-you card duty (since I hear that wedding planning falls on the bride and her family much more)?

[mic0]

Traditioooooooon! I'm assuming because of tradition.

Anecdata: When I asked my husband to do some of them he pretty much rolled his eyes and asked why we have to send thank you cards. SO THERE YOU GO.

[Portia]

Swear words. I wouldn't let my husband use any of our gifts, then. :P

[Zedability]

My husband's family and friends were much more chill about that and were more likely to provide in-person vs mail-in gifts. He also shares the general "why??" attitude, especially with it being later now.

[Concorde]

Concorde, nice to see you round these parts.

Thanks TBS. Moving/month long training in NYC/emotional fallout from breakup/starting a new full-time job... it all happened at once and kind of put me into "head-down, try-to-power-through" mode. I'm starting to peek back out a little more, but it's slow going.

[Violet]

All of the friends I'm close enough to talk with about thank you notes have split the note writing. My best friend had netflix and note writing marathons with her husband.

I don't expect thank you notes, but I appreciate them.

[The Happy Medium]

My brother got married in 2012 and they were still working on thank you notes last year. Perhaps my family is just really good at procrastinating but I wouldn't assume I wasn't getting a thank you note until at least a year after the wedding. How quickly do most people expect to get thank yous?

[Portia]

I'd expect them within 2-5 months, but I don't think I've ever gotten one.

[Whistler]

My mother-in-law suggested that after opening a gift we write the thank-you note right away. That worked pretty well (although since I wasn't working/going to school at the time, I wrote 98% of them).

[NovemberEast]

I had my husband write the ones to people only he knew so they'd be more personal. But we both signed our names. They were sent out within 1-1.5 months of getting married. There were a handful I missed in the shuffle and sent a few months after.

Growing up, my mom bought me those fill-in-the-blank thank you notes to send out after I had a birthday party. I hated them at the time, but the importance of thank-yous definitely stuck. Thanks mom

For my shower, I wrote them on the plane ride home. Also procrastination makes me feel itchy. And I feel a little guilty if I don't send them.

For baby showers, if I don't receive a thank you before the baby is born, I just assume it won't happen. haha.

[Portia]

For baby showers, if I don't receive a thank you before the baby is born, I just assume it won't happen. haha.

I think baby showers are silly. <ducks>

[NovemberEast]

For baby showers, if I don't receive a thank you before the baby is born, I just assume it won't happen. haha.

I think baby showers are silly. <ducks>

They can also be really awkward. This "game" actually happened at a baby shower I went to:

Everyone had a string tied around their waist like a belt. The "belt" had another string hanging down from it with a pencil attached to the end. The object of the "game" was to get the pencil in to a coke bottle that was on the floor below you by squatting or however you could manage without your hands...as many times as possible in a minute.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS WAS A GAME.

It just seemed awkwardly sexual. Or maybe I have a dirty mind.

Also my mom was there with me.

[Portia]

For baby showers, if I don't receive a thank you before the baby is born, I just assume it won't happen. haha.

I think baby showers are silly. <ducks>

They can also be really awkward. This "game" actually happened at a baby shower I went to:

Everyone had a string tied around their waist like a belt. The "belt" had another string hanging down from it with a pencil attached to the end. The object of the "game" was to get the pencil in to a coke bottle that was on the floor below you by squatting or however you could manage without your hands...as many times as possible in a minute.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS WAS A GAME.

It just seemed awkwardly sexual. Or maybe I have a dirty mind.

Also my mom was there with me.

A pencil into a coke bottle isn't the most, um, flattering oddly sexual party game. Hahahaha

[Portia]

"The reality is that women are just as human and flawed as men, and capable of good and evil to the same capacity as men."

Slow clap. YES. THIS.

[Shrinky Dink]

I think Vienna gave a good answer to BQ 83467 about naming kids one thing and calling them another. Personally, I have some longer names I like such as, Christopher, Elizabeth, and Lorenzo, but if I used them, I would probably use a shortened form out of preference. The main thing I like about these names is that the kids have options about what they want to be called depending on the setting. Christopher could go by Chris, Christopher, or even Topher. Elizabeth could be Ellie, Lizzie, Liz, or Beth. Unfortunately, my mom has already expressed her dislike of people doing this to their kids, so she won't know any of my kids' names until they're born. In fact, I intend to keep the names from everyone. After all, no one wants to hear, "Oh, you're going to name it John? There was this kid named John who I always hated in school."

[Shrinky Dink]

Since El-ahrairah mentioned it in BQ#83650, I'll share this little story about Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. My sister and I got tickets to see the midnight premiere of Catching Fire. There happened to be a poster advertising the movie when two teenage girls walked by, completely astonished, they said, "Oh my gosh! I didn't know that Lincoln was a vampire hunter!" Unfortunately, I could detect no hints of sarcasm.

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/83657/

There's an episode of The Simpsons where Homer meets the voice actress behind Itchy and Scratchy, so it's definitely a cartoon.

[Marduk]

Yeah, it is actually fairly obvious it is a cartoon in multiple episodes. They refer to it as such, there are voice people, writers (Lisa and Bart even write episodes in one episode) they show animators, and Marge lobbies against "cartoon violence" in one episode primarily targeting Itchy and Scratchy.

[Digit]

Summer Samba makes me think of elevator music, though I can't think of any time I've ever heard music in an elevator. Then again, I don't think I've ever been in a skyscraper or any building with more than about ten floors.

[Amity]

Re: the passive-aggressive friend from #83566, maybe the asker should stop spending time with her friend like this? It sounds like no one is having much fun anyway. Divya's advice was good but if it doesn't change things then I'm all in favor of Hangry findings other ways to keep up the friendship or just seeing the friend less. It's okay to scale back or drop a friendship if the time you spend together is unpleasant or leaves you feeling frustrated and annoyed.