Another marriage vow

Everyone knows about the traditional vows the bride and groom take when they get married: to love, honor, etc. After many years of marriage, I am now convinced that grooms need to take an additional marriage vow. This vow calls for husbands to “avoid unnecessary utterances.” Basically, it means that the husband has to shut up. Too often, during conversations or arguments with his spouse, the husband will open his mouth in an attempt to get a word in edgewise. It rarely works, and only serves to upset the wife. And on the rare occasions when he succeeds in speaking, he usually says the wrong thing.

To avoid these unnecessary utterances, it’s not too late for the husband to take this vow.

My advice is really not that new. Many years ago the poet Ogden Nash wrote:

“To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.”

I wonder if he, too, was writing from personal experience.