“My Husband Has A Hot Dog Counter”: 75 Times People Needed To Tweet The Hilarious Things Their Spouses Did

As you'll see from these posts, being married can be challenging, it can be fun, but it's something you can only experience if you've vowed to care for each other in sickness and in health. However, fewer and fewer couples experience marital bliss and all its provocations, as marriage rates have never been so low in history.

At first, sociologists and researchers posited that adults are delaying many milestones that previous generations had set: college graduation, stable job, home ownership, having children, and, of course, marriage. But, increasingly, they're noticing that Gen X and Millennials are choosing not to get married at all.

In 2019, the U.S. hit an all-time low in marriages, and that statistic hasn't recovered since. According to the Pew Research Center, 53% of couples were married in 2019, compared to 58% in 1995. What's interesting is that the share of adults who have lived with a partner unmarried (59%) has surpassed that of those who have been married (50%). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 47% of households were married couples in 2025.

There is no one reason that can explain this phenomenon. To some, making a romantic partnership official or legal simply doesn't matter. Although only a few U.S. states recognize common-law marriages (those that don't require a ceremony or a license), many cohabitating couples consider themselves spouses even if they never got officially married.

Nowadays, some men and women don't see the point in marriage or even cohabitating. To some, the standards of a modern relationship are just too high. According to Peter McGraw, a behavioral scientist who teaches at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the expectations that people have for their partners drive potential suitors away.

"In 1960, when you married your husband or wife, you were not looking for that person to be everything for you,” he toldthe New York Times. "[Today], the person is also supposed to be your best friend, your personal and professional confidant."

Women in particular find themselves getting the worse side of the bargain when they get married. Research shows that married working women have less free time than their single counterparts. But what's unfair is that married working men have more time for leisure than single men. In essence, marriage benefits men in terms of free time: women spend the same or a higher amount of time on household responsibilities and tasks when they are married, but men gain free time.

Still, it would be silly to say that marriage is becoming obsolete; half of U.S. adults are still doing it! Nevertheless, happy marriages require a lot of work, and there's no secret cheat code that couples can use to make their marriage perfect. That's not to say that experts haven't tried. Researchers and psychologists have looked for the key to a happy marriage for years, and Dr. John Gottman and Robert Levenson have come quite close with their studies.

They developed the Gottman Magic Ratio, or the Magic Relationship Ratio: the 5:1 rule that holds the key to a happy relationship. In their research, Gottman and Levenson observed that couples who had more positive interactions than negative ones reported better relationship satisfaction. Gottman, being a mathematician, looked for a quantifiable solution and found that if a couple were to have five positive interactions for every one during a conflict, they would come out of it at the other end.

It's impossible not to slip up and be a perfect partner. Couples annoy each other, forget things, complain, and even insult (hopefully, inadvertently) each other. But if every one of these missteps is offset by five positive acts like words of appreciation, acts of kindness, honoring rituals, and expressing curiosity about each other, the relationship feels more balanced. Turns out that there actually is a formula for a happy marriage.

What's your secret to a happy marriage, Pandas? Do you have a similar funny story to share about your spouse? Don't hesitate to do so in the comments! And if you'd like to see more positivity about relationships, be sure to check out these funny and wholesome anniversary stories and the craziest things people did for love.