Tell-Tale Signs That A Couple Won't Last Very Long

An Accidental... Engagement?

"A recent personal experience I witnessed."

"The entire immediate family of one side of a wedding said it was a bad idea and less than a month into the marriage one of them stayed at their mom's house for the night because they were fighting."

"Also, they got engaged as a result of a failed breakup attempt..."

- UNCLETROUBLE24

"I had a friend that did this. He kept dumping her and the last time, she just told him she had enough."

"The next day, he came back, begging for her and swearing that he loved her more than anything in the world."

"And she told him to prove it."

"So he proposed. She didn't know what to do, so she said yes and it went downhill from there."

- minilibrarian

An Incompatible Future

"If they have strongly conflicted plans for their future. Either means they'll break up eventually or one or both of them will end up in an unhappy compromise."

- slinkocat

"Do not get married if one of you wants kids and the other doesn't. It is a whole mess."

"I have an aunt and uncle who I love dearly. He wanted kids badly and she did not. They almost divorced over it, but eventually worked through it. Traveled the world, had beautiful properties, the whole nine yards."

"Now she is in her 60s, and every time she drinks, she talks about how she should have had kids, and my uncle gets this look on his face that is difficult to describe, but it's not good."

- sanslumiere

On Again, Off Again

"Breaking up every few minutes and then back together again."

- Substantial_Pen_4445

"Especially in the first couple of months."

- SlapHappyDude

Obviously Controlling

"When the dynamic is super obvious to outsiders early on, that’s a bad sign."

"Whatever is happening on the outside is always worse on the inside."

"I know a couple where the woman will just berate her man publicly. She’ll talk to him like he’s an actual child. She tells him how much he’s allowed to do certain things, but twists it so it doesn’t look as bad. It’s as if she genuinely thinks he’s mentally disabled or something, except she only does it when she’s being controlling."

"For example, she hates when he plays video games. She thinks it’s immature and a waste of time that could be spent hanging out with her or being productive. She thinks it’s embarrassing that he plays video games."

"So he has to sneak around to play video games at other people's houses so that he can play it off as if it’s the other person's fault that he was playing. Like, 'Oh, Mike wanted to play, and I just couldn’t say no at his house.'"

"Now, I have seen this couple having a semi-private fight. They’re very loud and literally go one room away from their guests to have fights."

"This woman will berate the way he talks during fights and literally mock him to his face in a baby voice like, 'Nanana, I’m a grown man and I still play video games,' instead of actually making real commentary on the argument. This breaks his spirit and he ends up just exhausting during the fight and succumbing to whatever she wants. And the things she wants are super inconsistent, so he can’t win there, either."

"The public thinks she doesn’t like video games and looks down on him for it. But privately she’s completely broken this guy's spirit and he can’t escape the cycle due to constant emotional exhaustion."

"And that’s not even TRUE privacy. That’s when I’m in another room. God only knows how bad it is when they’re completely alone together. I hear some of it because this guy has come to my house when she kicks him out for the night, and he vents to me (while we play hours of video games of course, lol (laughing out loud))."

"This is shockingly common. I know, like, eight people who have at one point been in a relationship like this. Whatever abusive behavior is seen publicly is always ALWAYS worse behind closed doors."

"I’ve told him blatantly that he should leave her."

"He always says things along the lines of, 'You’re right,' but then ends up back with her within a few days."

"They’ve been together for so long, I think it’s a sunk-cost situation for him."

"I am doing everything I can by being a place he can crash for the night and voicing my opinions. We’ve tried to talk to the woman before, too, but that ends up just making the guy’s life harder."

"Anyone who’s reading this and thinks it sounds familiar, if one or two friends say your SO (significant other) sucks, maybe it’s a fluke. If ALL your friends say they suck, or they think you might be in an abusive relationship, consider how you can’t see it as clearly through your rose-tinted glasses."

- MomLuvsDreamAnalysis

The Fatal Attempts to Fix

"When one person wants to 'fix' the other. If your relationship is a repair project, you didn't fall in love with who they are. You fell in love with what you want them to be."

- jiff1912

Walking on Eggshells

"'Walking on eggshells’ around your partner in terms of what you can and can’t say. if you feel you can’t disagree with your partner and/or voice your opinion without it turning into an argument."

- shelby75R

"That can be 'not going to last' or 'lasts several years too long.'"

- VanFailin

An Audience for Their Arguments

"The way they speak to each other when they’re not alone."

"I noticed this after my divorce and I started dating again, because you speak to these new people with a lot of respect and kindness. Then we’d get around married couples and they’d say awful things to each other in nasty snappy tones, and it was jarring."

"Fast forward ten years and all those couples I noticed doing that are divorced now."

- SnoBunny1982

"When both make the atmosphere so uncomfortable when you are in their house."

- Big-Nerve-9574

Wedding Day Etiquette

"When he smashes her face in the cake at the wedding and she hates it."

- A_wild_Mel_appears

"I did the manly thing and asked my wife. She said no, she was spending hours doing makeup and didn’t want to ruin it. So instead I gave her a tiny forkful to eat and it was great."

- MoobyTheGoldenSock

Very Public Relationships

"My cousin emptied out her bank account, her ex-husband's bank account, and borrowed from their relatives to fund a $25k wedding."

"They broke up about a year later. They were together for over 10 years before this."

"They also posted pictures the morning after while in bed still... It was just another sign they’re insecure about their relationship, over posting about how great it is all the time."

- StainedBrain1997

"A childhood friend posts five or six photos of her and her husband every day. The lighting is always magazine perfect, there is good composition and depth of field. It must take an hour of every day."

"I just want to be like, 'Girl, are you okay?'"

- PreferredSelection

Lack of Communication

"Lack of communication."

"Discussing every disagreement means screaming over each other, exploding, shutting off communications, and/or running out of the room."

"So they won't be able to resolve anything in a constructive manner."

- Bebe_Bleau

Arguing Too Much, or Too Little

"If all disagreements end in arguments."

"My partner and I disagree about a lot of stuff. But we can talk, discuss, and even sometimes agree with the other person's side."

"It'd be weird if you saw eye to eye on 100% of stuff too."

- jayhitter

Open Marriage Solutions

"When they think opening their marriage will fix their problems."

- randomname196

"My wife and I had two different pairs of married friends who brought in 'a third' to spice up their marriage. We now have four separate friends who we can't hang out with together."

- DigitalZiggurat

Apathetic Reactions

"I was at a party one time, and there was a marriage counselor there that had been working for 20-something years in couples counseling."

"I asked her what the number one sign was that the couple wasn't going to make it."

"Without hesitating, she said, 'If one person shows contempt for the other's feelings, it's over!'"

- Marauder

"This is the answer, well, one of them. John Gottman calls contempt, defensiveness, being critical, and stonewalling the 'Four Horsemen of Relationships.'"

"In other words, they are the signs that things are deeply not okay between the two people involved."

"Looking at past relationships, contempt is the big one. Once that entered the picture from either side, it was all downhill from there."

- ifnotmewh0

Adding a Child to the Mix

"Having a kid to 'fix' their relationship."

- ThingsOfThatNaychah

"Being a kid with divorced parents is bad."

"But being a kid with parents that should be divorced but aren't is way worse."

- AvergeMortisEnjoyer

An Undeniable List

"In my experience:"

"1. Contempt / mockery."

"2. Lack of communication / respect / empathy for the other person."

"3. Glue babies."

"4. Having a wedding as opposed to making a marriage."

"With the exception of children, consistently and habitually prioritizing others over their SO (significant other)."

"Then there are the things that for me are default dealbreakers: any kind of abuse, cheating, financial dishonesty, violence, gaslighting. This criteria also applies to their treatment of my children where applicable."

- PugWitch

There are always going to be relationships that aren't going to work out, but there are some that are literally doomed to fail, and that latter group is pretty obviously on the path to ending to everyone outside of the relationship long before the actual couple is even aware of it.