Many people have a possession they value above all others.
It could be something which has considerable financial value, such as heirloom jewelry, or something of purely sentimental value, such as a doll or teapot.
The very personal meaning of these various items leads people to be highly protective of them, with some going so far as to treat them as if they were a human beings.
The girlfriend of Redditor Ok-Disk-5109 felt this way about her car, going so far as to give it a name.
Something the original poster (OP) found to be slightly less than adorable, and wasn’t afraid to say so in front of his friends.
Worried that his words may have been insensitive to his girlfriend’s feelings, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for telling my girlfriend the way she talks about her car is weird and embarrassing?”
The OP explained how his girlfriend did not appreciate his calling her out on what he considered her “weird” behavior in front of his friends.
“I’ve (25) been dating my gf (23) for about 9 months now.”
“When she turned 21, her parents gave her a car, and she decided to name it Angie.”
“I learned all this on our first date, when she said ‘Angie took me here’.”
“I thought that was odd but let it slide.”
“Throughout our relationship, she’s always talked about her car as if she’s talking about another person.”
“When she got a flat tire on the highway a few months back, she called me and said that ‘Angie’s shoe broke and has to get a new one’.”
“When she goes to the car wash she describes it as ‘giving Angie a bath’.”
“This all came to a head this weekend, when me and my friends went out drinking, and my gf offered to be the designated driver.”
“We were out for a couple hours and I admittedly got a bit too drunk.”
“When my gf came to pick us up, she said she’s stopping at the gas station first ‘to get Angie something to drink’.”
“This is where I may be the a-hole.”
“I told her I think it’s weird and embarrassing of her to talk about her car like that.”
“It’s a machine, not a pet or a kid, and that she should treat it like how a normal person would treat any machine.”
“She got very quiet and refused to say anything for the rest of the drive home.”
“She dropped off my friends, and then drove to my apartment.”
“I asked her why we weren’t going back to hers, and she said she needed some time to think and told me to get out.”
“She’s been radio silent since then and I’m starting to think I did something wrong.”
“AITA for what I said?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The OP found little to no support from the Reddit community, who felt he was indeed the a**hole for the way he treated his girlfriend in front of his friends.
Everyone agreed that it was extremely insensitive of the OP to call her out in front of his friends, particularly after she was nice enough to come and pick them all up after a night of drinking, with many questioning how much longer this relationship will last.
“Just to clarify:”
“Your GF supported you going out drinking with your friends.”
“She was driving your drunk asses home.”
“She didn’t ask for gas money when stopping at a gas station.”
“And to thank her for all of these wonderful things, you called her weird in front of your friends and said she shouldn’t do what makes her happy.”
“You’re a dumped a**hole.”- askingxalice
“You called her weird and embarrassing as she did you and your stupid drunk friends a favor late into the night.”
“You made her feel stupid as f*ck because she now knows you’ve been secretly embarrassed by her for months over a quirk.”
“YTA and probably a single one if you can’t turn this around.”- daisukidesu1981
“There are always people who treat their environment differently to you.”
“Either respect them and leave them to their perfectly acceptable choices, or stfu.”
“Everyone has quirks, and part of being in a relationship is accepting and even loving those odd little behaviors and foibles.”
“Trying to embarrass someone, anyone, in front of our friends is something no one should consider acceptable, however.”
“It’s just bullying, and it tells me she’s definitely better off without you.”
“If one of my friends did something like that to someone, I’d reconsider our friendship too.”
“Being drunk is no excuse.”
“Get a handle on yourself and apologize to her, and Angie, as publicly as you called her out.”
“It doesn’t mean she’ll forgive you, but you might have some hope of becoming a decent human being.”
“Yes, we cried when out first little van died.”
“We still have his number plate on the wall. It’s a natural human behavior to anthropomorphize the objects we form relationships with.”
“A bad workman blames his tools; a good workman names them.”
“YTA.”- the_esjay
“My Jeeps name is RUBY, and she has a strict ‘no assholes allowed’ rule, so no ride for you, sir.”-graeflamingo
“You threw away a keeper.”
“She had no issues with you going out with friends to get plastered.”
“Even rolled your drunk self home.”
“Had to wake Angie up to go along.”- JoAnn1961
“YTA.”
“My mom is the same way.”
“Every goddamn thing she owns or comes near has a name.”
“Our tractor is named Lucille. all the little knick-knacks, too, have names.”
“It’s mental and it drives me bonkers because sometimes it takes me a good long minute to realize that the ‘Barry’ she’s talking about isn’t an actual person named Barry but a fucking metal owl-thing she’s got in her garden.”
“It’s idiosyncratic and it’s kind of weird, But I keep my mouth shut because that’s a stupid battle to pick for me, and, apparently, for you. some people are like that.”
“You owe your girlfriend an apology, and you might want to think about your relationship status overall.”
“Because I gotta tell ya, that’s a thing that’s not ever going to change about her.”
“If it bugs you this much now, it’s going to drive you mad.”- evilsir
“YTA.”
“Lots of people name their vehicles.”
“I call my truck ‘Rustbucket’.”
“Our rototiller is called ‘The Hun’, as in ‘a tiller the Hun’.”- BracedRhombus
“YTA.”
“Jeez, just let your girlfriend enjoy her relationship with Angie.”
“Are you jealous?”
“How was she hurting anyone by being a bit silly when referring to her car?”- lihzee
“YTA for unnecessarily sh*tting on something she enjoys that has no impact on you at all.”
“You’re probably about to get dumped.”- RefrigeratorFar2769
“YTA.”
“Referring to a car as a person is incredibly common.”
“Honestly, it says more about you that you would get so upset over something so trivial.”
“No worries, though.”
“Now you can try and find a woman who doesn’t name their car, because I’m sure this one is done with you.”- Witch_Sphincter_Hat
“People name their cars and treat them as more than machines all the time.”
“And cars can absolutely have personalities too.”
“When we were dating, my, now, husband named his car Lucille and jokingly called her his first love.”
“Being a sarcastic smarta**, I teased him about it and because of that I swear that car hated me.”
‘The passenger side door would never open for me but no one else ever had trouble with it.”
“I came to hate her too and may have cheered a little bit when she finally died on July 4th, which may or may not have anything to do with me picking that date for our wedding a couple years after we started dating.”
“So what if your girlfriend is a little quirky, why does it matter?”
“It’s not hurting anyone.”
“YTA.”- GlitterSparkleDevine
“YTA.”
“Lighten up dude.”- Aggro3
“YTA.”
“I know a bunch of people to name their cars and say things like this.”
“My car is Sue, my best friend’s is Harry.”
“I work with a guy who named his truck Veronica.”
“It’s just a fun way to talk about our vehicles, it’s not that deep.”
“We don’t think our cars are sentient.”
“This is a super common thing, you should lighten up dude.”
“Your gf and Angie sound fun.”- kaiti714
The OP eventually returned with an update, revealing that the predictions of several Redditors regarding his relationship turned out to be accurate.
“Well she dumped me.”
“She found the post, called me and told me never to speak to her again.”
“I guess it’s for the best though, we really wouldn’t have been that compatible, as many of you have said.”
“Thank you for your judgements.”
Someone criticizing their significant other in front of their friends after they’ve done them a favor doesn’t scream “healthy relationship”.
Hopefully the OP has learned to treat his next girlfriend with a little more respect.
Regardless of how she treats her car.