History Main / NoAccountingForTaste

* [[RebelliousPrincess Astrid]] from the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' series does have enough taste not to marry her fifty-something SinisterMinister DisposableFiance, Lekain... but instead she chooses to marry Makalov, a self-centered, lazy gambling addict who nearly tricked her into selling her grandmother's heirloom. His sister, Marcia, even asks WhatDoesSheSeeInHim. And this all happened after she rejected a mostly likable ChivalrousPervert LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces because she was engaged.

** Oscar and Trudy Proud count as this, as Oscar is a dimwitted jerk who fails at nearly everything he tries, and Trudy is a VERY short-tempered and violent woman who has ''beaten her husband up'' on several occasions (and possesses a hypocritical DoubleStandard on flirting with attractive people of the opposite gender), and yet neither of the Proud Parents ever seriously consider getting a divorce in order to get out of staying with each other.
** Felix and Sunset Boulevardez aren't much better, as Felix is every bit as lazy, sexist and jerky as Oscar and Sunset does nothing but belittle and assault Felix like Trudy does to Oscar.

** Vegeta and Bulma: An arrogant, superpowered, {{jerkass}} half-monkey prince with homicidal tendencies and a supremely intelligent, yet vain and equally arrogant woman. Had a fling, a son (later a daughter), eventually married and are still together. (Bulma once said that even ''she'' doesn't know why she's attracted to him, although it's probably because of his features[[note]] Most of Bulma's love interests were tall dark and handsome and she was attracted to Goku when she first saw him all grown-up[[/note]] and the fact that [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys he's a bad boy]].)\\

->''I'm sure you're familiar with love songs on the order of "He's just my Bill", "...my man", "...my Joe', "...my Max", and so on, where the girl who sings them tells you that, although the man she loves is antisocial, alcoholic, physically repulsive, or just plain unsanitary, that, nevertheless, she is his because he is hers, or something like that.''

Third-parties may wonder WhatDoesHeSeeInHer.

** Krillin and Android 18: A short, noseless DoggedNiceGuy with a [[ButtMonkey bad tendency]] to get [[DeathIsCheap horribly killed]] and a sarcastic, cold woman who was initially an evil {{Cyborg}}. (In fact, most would say that 18 never really stopped being evil, but is just a lot ''less'' so now than she used to be.) They got married, had a daughter and are [[HappilyMarried still together]]. In fact, she went on a rather violent - and emotional - RoaringRampageOfRevenge in one arc in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' where he was killed. (He got better, [[DeathIsCheap as is often the case in this franchise.]])

-->'''Shinji''': ''"It's just that I'd repressed the memory as thoroughly as possible because I saw my mother die horribly when she tried to synch with it and succeeded a bit too well. Or so everyone thought; if I didn't hallucinate ''everything'' between seeing you go down to the Mass-Production Evas and waking up on the beach, she actually did it on purpose so that Unit-01 could become an eternal monument to mankind's existence... or something. I don't know all the details and I'm not sure I want to, especially why she found it necessary to make me watch."''\\
'''Asuka''': ''"Oh."''\\
'''Shinji''': ''"So, yeah, [...] That's the woman my father is planning to cause total human extinction to reunite with. No accounting for taste, I suppose."''\\
'''Asuka''': ''"Guess not."''

-->Interrupting! ''(buzz)'' Losing temper! ''(buzz)'' Forced apology! ''(buzz)'' [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Supports fascism!]] ''(buzz)''

-->Some of them came to the conclusion that the Bradburys must like it that way. Arguing all the time was the thing that made them happy. But it didn't seem to make them happy at all.

-->I am drowning.\\

I hope we both die.

-->'''Husband's Friend:''' My wife is such a bad cook, last night she burned the gazpacho.\\
'''Husband:''' ''(deadly serious)'' My wife is a hell-spawned demon send to Earth to torture me until I die.

** Lois's parents are more explicit examples. "He won't even look at me in the back of the head anymore!"

The former has both parties held together by force of habit, and basically tolerant of each other although there's very little romance or chemistry ([[VitriolicBestBuds though plenty of sass and backtalk]]). The latter has the whole relationship held together by one person. The second type appears to be what happens when the LoveMartyr actually gets some sort of relationship with their target. Both halves of the couple acknowledge that they're part of a pair, but otherwise the whole affair's so inexplicable/unequal that it's a marriage/love affair in name only.

This is similar to TheMasochismTango, but milder. It's a subset of how so many SitCom characters are so dementedly quirky that they'd wind up on ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' in real life. [[{{Handwave}} Handwaving]] this often uses AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther. ComedicSociopathy ultimately makes you wonder why ANYONE would put up with that guy.

** One episode of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' has Vegeta remark that he doesn't exactly dislike Bulma's pushy side. He even notes he likes the feistiness and Goku responds with a smile that Chi-Chi can be the same way. Vegeta then explains that as Saiyans, they're natrually attracted to strong-willed woman. Piccolo's reaction of "That. Explains. Everything" crows the humor of it all.

** [[spoiler: For good this time. He ends up coming out of the closet. Unfortunately, the guy he ends up with is ''bitchier'' than Julie.]] WordOfGod points out it is not coincidence that they both happen to be misanthropic jerks.

* Lord and Lady Everglot from ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' get along quite well, but it's painfully obvious they do not love each other. They don't even like each other, and are quite open about it. They both insist that liking one's spouse has nothing whatsoever to do with marriage.

** Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice''. The author and the characters acknowledge how unfitted these two are, so they serve as a warning to the reader to marry wisely. Miss Austen noted that a young Mr. Bennet misstook youth and beauty for a winning personality. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bennet married for security and Mr. Bennet not only can't provide it, but he actively sabotages her attempts to warn her daughters that they face a choice between financial security and marriage or being poor but independent.

--->'''Narrator''': Lady Elliot had been an excellent woman, sensible and amiable; whose judgement and conduct, if they might be pardoned the youthful infatuation which made her Lady Elliot, had never required indulgence afterwards.

* While ''Literature/AllForTheGame'''s Neil Josten isn't the sweetest person in the world and isn't known for having the best judgement, ''everyone'' seriously questions his attraction to [[spoiler: Andrew Minyard. Even Andrew thinks their's something wrong with him.]] There's even an ongoing bet among their teammates that the relationship is based on mutual hatred.

** Also because its an ArrangedMarriage between royal families. And they do grow out of it and fall in love later on.

* In early seasons of ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'', Boss Hogg's wife Lulu is little better than her husband. In later seasons, however, she softens, and becomes much nicer than he is, starts to lose patience with his shady antics, and starts to become the dominant side of the relationship. She even threatens to divorce him in one episode. To make things worse - for her husband - she tended to be on friendly terms with the Dukes, much to his dismay.

** Red and Kitty Forman. Red's snarkiness and lack of tact frustrates Kitty on a regular basis. Kitty's drinking and apparent naivete does the same for him. He's a good provider, she's a good housewife and mother. It's also implied several times on the show that the sex is fantastic.

* Will and Terri Shuester on ''Series/{{Glee}}''. They are former HighSchoolSweethearts and are completely incompatible. Terri is an insufferable JerkAss, but Will's such a NiceGuy he puts up with her garbage... despite the fact that he's in love with his co-worker Emma, who also almost gets into a NoAccountingForTaste marriage with Ken before he comes to his senses and dumps her. It's little wonder [[spoiler: the marriage fell apart about halfway through season one]]
* Frank and Estelle Costanza from ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' couldn't speak to one another without shouting and seemed to genuinely hate each other. It's not really explained why they stay together at all, and when they separate, nobody is the least bit surprised. Like Bob and Midge above, they could also be seen as a Deconstruction of this trope as Jerry theorized that if they had divorced when George was a kid, he "could have been normal" instead of the neurotic, self loathing, slow-witted, brain-damaged, impulsive and insecure little man he is on the show. George himself seems to agree with Jerry's theory, saying that he's the product of his parents staying together.

* Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' is a text-book case. She's a disciplined, organized, tough-yet-vulnerable, loving, passionate, caring, strict, intelligent, sensual woman - a real spitfire, even though she tries to bury it under her need to be professional. And yet, her taste in men is repeatedly awful.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Buffy and Riley's relationship was this to an extent. The only reason Buffy wanted to date Riley was because he was normal and not a vampire. The only reason Riley wanted to date Buffy was because she hunted demons like he did. They had nothing in common outside of that, barely any chemistry, and yet they stayed together for really no reason at all. Unsurprisingly they couldn't last and broke up a season later.
** If you really want to push it, Buffy and Angel had shades of this. As [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/whitetigress/buffy-and-angel-cute-or-creepy-1vxvt this essay]] explains, they really didn't have that much in common and only loved each other based on ideals about what they wanted their relationship to be. They kept trying to make their relationship work even though they knew it was long over, and caused nothing but pain to each other whenever they were together.

** ''ComicStrip/TomTheDancingBug'' also parodies this with "Marital Mirth". Unlike other examples the thin veneer of jocularity is removed, with every strip featuring the husband and wife talking amongst themselves or with their friends about how much they openly hate each other.

** General Halftrack and his wife rarely seem to do anything but argue and fight with each other, and he has often stated that she doesn't respect him any more.

* Famed radio couple ''The Bickersons'' is probably the shining example every other teevee couple strives for.

*** Actually, all of the rival couples in ''VidoeGame/HarvestMoonDS'' and [[DistaffCounterpart Cute]] end up questioning the marriage and being unhappy in it, except for one: Nami and Gustafa, who seem perfectly happy in their marriage, finding someone who enjoys travel and their alone time, but both loving the valley enough to stay.

* Guybrush and Elaine from the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series. Guybrush is resourceful but otherwise a wimpy ditz. Elaine is smart, beautiful and tough but fiercely independent and very bossy. In ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' both of them are attracted to other people and in the finale Elaine temporarily becomes [[spoiler: a voodoo demon who tries to kill Guybrush]] and yet somehow they still stay together at the end.

* Though they're not married, WebAnimation/HomestarRunner's titular character and Marzipan. Marzipan considers their relationship to be entirely up to her, breaks up and makes up at the drop of a hat, and seems to genuinely prefer the company of several of the other male characters over Homestar's, and it seems like the only reason she enjoys having him around is to make herself feel smarter. Homestar, for his part, is air-headed enough to honestly think "Go away, stupid" means the same thing as "hello, Marzipan" and is either apathetic or happy when Marzipan announces they're breaking up. At the same time, he does seem to genuinely enjoy her company. The couple's dysfunction can be seen in how they [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/deck.html consider each other]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/qualitytime.html via cardboard proxy]].

* Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty in ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}''. Sam, though he loves Liberty, has a serious case of ItsAllAboutMe and [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2013-05-05 since he was a kid]] has ignore Liberty's opinion on matters like imperialism and exploitation of others, showed in Sinfest as [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2013-05-05 porn]]. Liberty tried to talk about it but she was [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2012-06-03 rebuffed]]. Now Sam crossed the line and tries to get Liberty into joining him [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2013-05-02 in porn sex]] and Liberty has become a LoveMartyr to her {{Jerkass}} husband.

* Weg from ''Webcomic/FairyDust'' is suspected by his men of enjoying being treated rudely and picking mean tempered wives on purpose.
* Fashion exec Jan from ''Webcomic/SplitScreen'' is deeply in love with with her childhood best friend Jeremy, an out-of-shape BigEater with truckload of mental and emotional issues, who responds to her advances with the most mixed of mixed signals.

* Francine and Stan from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' are a weird case. Several episode revolve around Stan putting Francine (sometimes his entire family) through some {{plan}} that involves putting her through horrible things (so far he's [[spoiler:made the whole family go months without any food money to get a better deal on a car]], [[spoiler:made Francine think he killed their neighbor and her attempts at making him more open will get him killed so she'll stop bugging her about it]], and [[spoiler:frame her for murder which made her feel so guilty, she moved to a horrible part of India to help the poor so he doesn't have to hear her say "I told you so"]]), and though [[SnapBack they're over it by the next episode]], they aren't actually ''shown'' getting over it (in the last one, she explicitly tells him she hasn't forgiven him yet). On the other hand, [[DependingOnTheWriter other episodes]] show he's genuinely caring, doesn't ''realize'' the things he does are so bad, and tries to fix them.

** An episode reveals it's beasically ToxicFriendInfluence on steroids. They do genuinely love each other, but they're both so horribly insecure that despite their complaints, they're actually attracted to and enable the others' faults. Beth may complain or be annyoned by Jerry's spinelessness, but she actually needs it because it makes her feel good about herself and her worth, using ti to balance out the negativity how desperate she was to get her father's attention. Jerry meanwhile is aware he's a loser, but he's attracted to Beth's strength and abrasiveness because he can let her take charge and take care of em while also being with someone who initially would be considered out of his leaguge.

* Stephen Stills and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Julie in ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim''. She spends nearly the entire fourth book complaining about him, his band and generally being crabby, and by the fifth book, they've broken up. ''Again.''
** [[spoiler: For good this time--he's gay. And then he hooks up with a guy who is, personality-wise, essentially a male version of Julie.]]

\\
One episode of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' has Vegeta remark that he doesn't exactly dislike Bulma's pushy side, and Goku responds with a smile that Chi-Chi can be the same way. A stunned Piccolo realizes that Saiyan men are attracted to strong-willed women, mentally kicking himself for not figuring it out sooner.

* In ''[[VideoGame/AmnesiaOtome Amnesia: Memories]]'', Toma calls out the heroine on this when she [[EasilyForgiven easily forgives]] a {{Yandere}} who drugs her food, locks her up in a cage, and almost rapes her because she just loves him too much, saying that she has horrible taste in men. The kicker? ''Toma is that very same yandere.''

* Eustace and Muriel in ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' seem an extreme version, as they at best get along, and Eustace is at best complacent when he gets what he wants. You have to wonder why they were married or if they liked each other. There's almost never even a case of AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther. One episode has aliens who extract Muriels' love as a liquid, during which time she is just as if not ''meaner'' than Eustace. Though she gets her good nature back, just the dregs of her liquid completely changed the aliens into really nice guys. So yeah, she's a saint with NoAccountingForTaste. What is also truly weird is that when she was mean and spent most of the time abusing Courage, Eustace is actually ''genuinely happy'' that he has someone to be mean with. Though she was also a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KCDxDDcuc&NR=1 hyperactive demanding brat]] when she was [[FountainOfYouth de-aged]] in one episode.
** Well, there was ''[[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther one]]'' [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther episode]], where Eustace's even more curmudgeonly mom and a spurned phantom try to break up their marriage, and there's a scene where Courage gets them to stay together and show affection for each other. There are also a few brief moments that make you think that maybe they are contently married. They just decrease in number since Eustace' meanness [[{{Flanderization}} increases as the series progresses]].
** When Eustace is stolen away by the Queen of the Black Puddle, Muriel is reduced to endless weeping. Yet 90% of the show's episodes end with Eustace trapped, incapacitated, or possibly dead, yet Muriel never seems to care. Heck, one episode had Eustace ''melt in front of her'' having to be sponged off and placed in a jar and yet all Muriel does is say "Poor Eustace" in the same tone as if he was sick in bed with the flu. It really makes one wonder if whether she's amazingly [[StepfordSmiler callous]], [[TheDitz dim-witted]], or more likely, subconsciously GenreSavvy enough to know he'll be [[StatusQuoIsGod back to normal by next episode.]] They ''are'' elderly. Maybe their personalities evolved after having been married for several years.

* Buttercup's parents (who are not [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrom in the movie]]) fall into this in the first few chapters of ''Literature/ThePrincessBride''. They snipe continuously, ''keeping score as they do''. Oddly, however, they really do love each other underneath it all; when he dies, she doesn't outlive him by very long, and the narrative notes that everyone who knew them decided that it must have been "the sudden lack of opposition" which caused her death.

* In ''VideGame/WarioWare'', for reasons unknown to all but the Star Spirits themselves, Mona thinks Wario is really cool and is hinted to be attracted to him. For reference, she's a cute, attractive, cheerful FieryRedhead, and he's greedy, ugly, overweight, amoral, CorruptCorporateExecutive whose breath always smells like garlic. For her part, [[BadassOnPaper Wario]] is a treasure hunter who's earned his wealth battling beasties and saving the world.

* In ''Lierature/{{Terra}}'' by Music/MitchBenn, the Bradburys are a couple who are always arguing. Their friends can't understand why they're still married.

* On ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Suzie Kokoshka is the sole breadwinner for her household and is expected to do housework on top of that to her ManChild LazyHusband, Oskar. There are a few times where she leaves but she always returns.

* Oscar and Trudy from ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'' count as this, as Oscar is a dimwitted jerk who fails at nearly everything he tries, and Trudy is a VERY short-tempered and violent woman who has ''beaten her husband up'' on several occasions (and possesses a hypocritical DoubleStandard on flirting with attractive people of the opposite gender), and yet neither of the Proud Parents ever seriously consider getting a divorce in order to get out of staying with each other.

* ''Film/ProblemChild'' has Ben Healy Jr. and Flo. The former is a NiceGuy who honestly wants a son while the other is a bitchy shrew who only wants a kid so that she can socialize with other mothers. There's no reason why they got married in the first place considering that she immediately leaps onto a murderous criminal and he's completely indifferent to the fact that she's not coming back. Oddly enough, [[YouLookFamiliar his love interest in the second film is played by the same woman]], [[RomanceOnTheSet who latter became Ritter's real-life wife]].

Often overlaps with UglyGuyHotWife, which - depending on your point of view - either further makes a couple with this look ill-matched, or this trope make an UglyGuyHotWife pairing all the more inexplicable.

* In Steven Erikson's ''Literature/{{Malazan Book of the Fallen}}'', Iskaral Pust and his wife Mogora seem to hate each other with great passion.

It takes more than the good intentions of the LoveMartyr or the delusions of MadLove to make a [[HappilyMarried relationship work]]. When a relationship gets rocky or outright implodes, the resulting mess just goes to prove LoveHurts, and that's when everyone involved was trying their best to make it work. Then of course there's No Accounting for Taste; this happens when two insufferable people choose to suffer each other and stay married, or when one ostensibly [[NiceGuy nice person]] marries an unrepentant {{jerkass}}.

Often overlaps with UglyGuyHotWife, which depending on your point of view either further makes a couple with this look ill-matched, or this trope make an UglyGuyHotWife pairing all the more inexplicable.

* While they do actually love each other, this is about where the Morrigan and Baphomet's relationship ''starts'' in ''Comicbook/TheWickedAndTheDivine''. Between his cheating and her constant violent rages, it...deteriorates quite a bit from there over the course of the series.

* ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': [[PeggySue In the previous timeline]] Shinji had wondered why his nice, loving mother would fall for his jerkass father. But after considering his mother got absorbed into Unit 01 on purpose to become an eternal reminder of humankind’s existence and she actually ''wanted'' him to watch how she seemingly died, Shinji wonders why his father would marry her and decides there is no accounting for taste.

'''Asuka''': ''"Oh,"''\\

'''Asuka''': ''"Guess not,"''

** Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice''. The author and the characters acknowledge how unfitted these two are, so they serve as a warning to the reader to marry wisely. Miss Austen noted that a young Mr. Bennet misstook youth and beauty for a winning personality. Also Mrs Bennet married for security and Mr Bennet not only can't provide it; he actively sabotages her attempts to warn her daughters that they face a choice between financial security and marriage or being poor but independent.
** A young couple from ''Pride and Prejudice'': Elizabeth is horrified when her best friend Charlotte Lucas decides to marry the insufferable Mr. Collins in cold blood for the sake of a home and a secure future. When we see her again after her marriage, however, she is coping very nicely with her spouse, having carefully arranged their lives so they spend as little time together as possible. Unlike the Bennets, the Collinses are quite happily content in their loveless marriage, mostly thanks to the fact that Charlotte knew exactly what she was getting into and Collins is too much of an idiot to know better.
** Mr and Mrs Allen of ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey''. Here is the narrator's smirking commentary:

** Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram from ''Literature/MansfieldPark''. He's a very intelligent and capable man, but he married an insipid, lazy and fairly stupid woman. At least she's affectionate and kind, and lets herself be guided by Sir Thomas in important issues.
** It was the case of Anne's parents Sir Walter and Lady Elliot of ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}''. Lady Elliot was the sensible and amiable spouse who married an empty-headed snob who only thinks about his baronetcy and extremely good looks. The narrator says she was not the happiest of women, but she still managed to cope and found enough pleasures in her duties and she loved her daughters.

* Maniac's aunt and uncle are this in ''Literature/ManiacMagee''. They despise each other, but as "good Christians" they refuse to get a divorce. Maniac lives with them after his parents died, and he finally runs away because of their mutual hatred.

* Richard and Hyacinth in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. Hyacinth's actress once defended her character against the question "why does Richard put up with Hyacinth" with the answer that she kept a good house, and dinner was always on time. Also partly explained in one episode where Elizabeth and Emmett conclude that Richard's living in his own little world most of the time has gone a long way to keeping his marriage together.

* Will and Terri Shuester on ''Series/{{Glee}}''. They are former HighSchoolSweethearts and are completely incompatible. Terri is an insufferable JerkAss but Will's such a NiceGuy he puts up with her garbage...despite that he's in love with his co-worker Emma who also almost gets into a NoAccountingForTaste marriage with Ken before he came to his senses and dumped her. It's little wonder [[spoiler: the marriage fell apart about halfway through season one]]

* Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' is a text-book case. She's a disciplined, organized, tough-yet-vulnerable, loving, passionate, caring, strict, intelligent, sensual woman - a real spitfire, even though she tries to bury it under her need to be professional. And yet, her taste in men is recurringly awful.
** For most of the series, she is dating Major Frank Burns, a married man who also happens to be the ''biggest'' DrJerk in the entire series; a petty, wheedling, small-minded, GungHolierThanThou PsychopathicManchild ControlFreak who she knows, and he knows she knows, is just stringing her along until he goes home to his coldl, frigid wife. Zigzagged in that she admits to herself that she knows he's a pretty awful catch, but she just can't seem to find anyone else who measures up to her standards of being high ranking and military-admiring.

* ''ComicStrip/TheLockhorns''. Every one panel strip is Loretta complaining about Leroy's laziness, or Leroy complaining about Loretta's cooking, or Loretta complaining about Leroy flirting with another woman, or just one of them explaining how unattractive they find the other.

** Ms. Buxley has had every very male in Camp Swampy drooling over her for years, yet for some reason, she tends to date Beetle in modern strips, despite the fact he's the same lazy goof-off he's always been.

*** Actually, all of the rival couples in VidoeGame/HarvestMoonDS and [[DistaffCounterpart Cute]] end up questioning the marriage and being unhappy in it, except for one: Nami and Gustafa, who seem perfectly happy in their marriage, finding someone who enjoyes travel and their alone time, but both loving the valley enough to stay.

* Jun Kazama from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' is one of the nicest characters in the franchise, though keep in mind that GoodIsNotNice or [[GoodIsNotSoft Soft]]. She has a fling with Kazuya Mishima, who is...not [[{{Jerkass}} very nice]]. [[AbusiveParents At all]]. As of the second Tag game, she ''still'' seems to have feelings for him despite everything. Feelings which he just blows off.

** Not anymore. Sam thinks Liberty only married for money. After hearing this, She packs her suitcase and leaves. [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2014-12-02 (Start of arc.)]]

* Eustace and Muriel in ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' seem an extreme version, as they at best get along, and Eustace is at best complacent when he gets what he wants. You have to wonder why they were married or if they liked each other. There's almost never even a case of AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther. One episode has aliens who extract Muriels' love as a liquid, during which time she is just as if not ''meaner'' than Eustace. Though she gets her good nature back, just the dregs of her liquid completely changed the aliens into really nice guys. So yeah, she's a saint with NoAccountingForTaste. What is also truly weird is that when she was mean and spent most of the time abusing Courage, Eustace is actually ''genuinely happy'' that he has someone to be mean with. Though she was also a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KCDxDDcuc&NR=1 hyperactive demanding brat]] when she was [[FountainOfYouth deaged]] in one episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Homer and Marge have always, ''always'' been in a weird flux between wondering why are they still together and HappilyMarried: They're facing constant troubles, but it's always made a big deal instead of just "a fact of life". It's not until TheMovie that she walks out on him for real, even if only temporarily.

** A better example would be Bob and Miriam Pataki. Bob is selfish and self-centered and Miriam is a depressed, moping alcoholic. Both are still married to this day, even though they aren't happy.

* Frank and Estelle Costanza from ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' couldn't speak to one another without shouting and seemed to genuinely hate each other. It's not really explained why they stay together at all, and when they seperate, nobody is the least bit surprised.

* People have been saying this about [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit and Miss Piggy]] for decades. Their relationship was always portrayed as strained; she twice attempted to ''trick'' Kermit into marrying her, and once after she intentionally spread a number of false rumors about their relationship Kermit actually had her fired. This may be why they broke up in ''Series/TheMuppets''.However, Kermit is also seen dating a new pig named Denise on that show and admits he HasAType for pigs, which might explain why it took so long for them to go through with it.

-->-- '''Music/TomLehrer'''

* [[GenreSavvy Konata Izumi]] from ''Manga/LuckyStar'' had a problem understanding why her [[PosthumousCharacter late]] mom Kanata married her ''[[DirtyOldMan Dirty Old]] {{Otaku}} with a [[{{lolicon}} Lolita Complex]][[note]] Kanata, like Konata, looked as if she stopped growing in the early teens,[[/note]]'' dad Soujirou. It turned out to be a subversion of this trope, though, as Kanata genuinely felt Soujirou's love to her.
-->'''Konata''': Why do you think Mom chose to marry you, anyway? [[BrutalHonesty I mean, you're a]] [[DirtyOldMan pervy old]] [[{{otaku}} geek]] with a [[{{lolicon}} lolita complex]]. [[LampshadeHanging Why would anyone pick you?]]\\

* ''Film/ProblemChild'' has Ben Healy Jr. and Flo. The former is a NiceGuy who honestly wants a son while the other is a bitchy shrew who only wants a kid so that she can socialize with other mothers. There's no reason why they got married in the first place considering that she immediately leaps onto a murderous criminal and he's completely indifferent to the fact that she's not coming back. Oddly enough, [[YouLookFamiliar his love interest in the second film is played by the same woman]].

->''I'm sure you're familiar with love songs on the order of "He's just my Bill", "…my man", "…my Joe', "…my Max", and so on, where the girl who sings them tells you that, although the man she loves is antisocial, alcoholic, physically repulsive, or just plain unsanitary, that, nevertheless, she is his because he is hers, or something like that.''

[[folder:{{Anime}}]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:{{Music}}]]

[[folder: NewspaperComics]]

[[folder:{{Radio}}]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

-->'''Shinji''':''"It's just that I'd repressed the memory as thoroughly as possible because I saw my mother die horribly when she tried to synch with it and succeeded a bit too well. Or so everyone thought; if I didn't hallucinate ''everything'' between seeing you go down to the Mass-Production Evas and waking up on the beach, she actually did it on purpose so that Unit-01 could become an eternal monument to mankind's existence... or something. I don't know all the details and I'm not sure I want to, especially why she found it necessary to make me watch."''\\
'''Asuka''':''"Oh,"''\\
'''Shinji''':''"So, yeah, [...] That's the woman my father is planning to cause total human extinction to reunite with. No accounting for taste, I suppose."''\\
'''Asuka''':''"Guess not,"''

-->'''Lady Everglot''': Hah! As if that has anything to do with marriage. Do you suppose your father and I "like" each other?
-->'''Victoria''': Surely you must... a little?
-->'''Lord and Lady Everglot''': ''Of course not!''

---> '''Trini''': "I know we don't marry men for their brains, but there is a limit."

--->'''Narrator:''' Lady Elliot had been an excellent woman, sensible and amiable; whose judgement and conduct, if they might be pardoned the youthful infatuation which made her Lady Elliot, had never required indulgence afterwards.

I hope we both die.\\

--->'''Caboose:''' Hey, Church! Happy Valentine's --
--->'''Church:''' GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!

-->'''Jake''': Who's escorting your sister to this [wedding], anyway?
-->'''Helen''': Well, she dumped the sculptor, the skydiving instructor had that horrible accident, and I believe that Bruno is in some federal facility. So I don't know...
-->'''Jake''': That Rita sure knows how to pick 'em.

* [[TheDitz Caboose]] from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', in a platonic example, believes himself to be [[{{Jerkass}} Church's]] best friend. While Church has several PetTheDog moments when it comes to Caboose (he lets out a BigNo when he is supposedly killed, for example), his default position is complete and utter loathing for the Blue Team's rookie.
-->'''Caboose:''' Hey, Church! Happy Valentine's --
-->'''Church:''' GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!
** Of course, given the nature of relationships on ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', [[TheDitz Caboose]] probably ''is'' [[{{Jerkass}} Church's]] best friend.

** On the romance side of things, nobody really gets why Church and Tex like each other. She's mean, punches people in their sleep, and openly enjoys her job of killing people ("I think it's important to like what you do."), while he's an angry, narcissistic jerk. Even understanding where they came from doesn't really explain why they ''still'' care for each other. Church in Season 10 does admit he has a fetish for women with quick tempers, so that might be a factor.
*** Because, as the CerebusRetcon in the Recollection Saga reveals, [[spoiler:both of them are AI's, and the care they have for one another is ''literally rooted into their programming'', regardless of whether they actually like each other or not. Church was created by copying the mind of the director of the Freelancer program. Somewhere along the line, his memories of "his" dead wife Allison split off to become a second AI - Tex. Tex found out about all of this prior to the start of the series, but Church had repressed and split off his memories because of the mental and emotional trauma he had been subjected to as part of the director's attempts to replicate the incident that produced Tex.]]