SELF-REFERENCE ALERT:

Does it pass the wife check? (Jen Haberkorn, January 21, 2006, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Eyeing an intricate DVD player or clunky home theater speakers? Better check with your spouse first.

The idea of checking with a mate before purchasing a big-ticket item may not be a new idea, but its name, spouse acceptance factor -- usually called wife acceptance factor for the greater number of men interested in electronics -- is building steam among technology gurus and electronics manufacturers.

Women control 88 percent of electronics purchases, whether they make the purchase or influence what their spouse buys, according to research by the Consumer Electronics Association. Whether an item passes the wife acceptance factor, or WAF, typically depends on price, design and complexity.

And they always have had de facto control over men, which is one of the reasons they don't need the political franchise.

I was at the local thrift store the other day, where you can buy books for a quarter. As it happened, they'd just gotten in a book that was too nice to sell that cheap and they asked if I'd be interested. It was a Little Nemo collection in an exquisite coffee-table size. I remembered a glowing review from several years ago (it's actually of a later book), but they wanted $45 for it, so demurred, saying: "The Wife would kill me." But it was one of those non-purchases that nags at you and when I looked it up on Amazon to see what it normally costs it turned out to not only be out of print but to be selling in the Marketplace for nothing less that $375. Thankfully, I have an understanding wife and the book was there when I went back.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2006 12:00 AM