Turns out, according to M. I may have been incorrect in my assessment of the incompatibility chink in our relationship’s armor. (And, I checked, it’s PC to use “chink” in that form in a sentence.)

We did watch some of the same shows growing up, he wasn’t all just “Miami Vice” and “Battlestar Galactica.” When he mentioned “Laverne and Shirley” and “Happy Days,” I started to relax. When he invoked “Mary Tyler Moore,” I could breathe again and tore about the long and tortured break-up note, riddled with pop culture references and genuine tears of regret.

I do consider one of my past dating mistakes to have been being with guys who cannot participate in TV trivia conversations, are American pop culture illiterate, or who pretend they have never watched mindless television. Who would have guessed sitting at home in Malaysia was a guy watching the same shows as a chick in Boston’s suburban wasteland?

Also, by the way, I hugely admire the chicks who have the chutzpah, faith in themselves and maybe hubris to go out and buy new wardrobes to make over their guys.

(I never understood the phenom, but I have had conversations with girlfriends about hating how a guy looked and making him go shopping, get a haircut, etc. Apart from the making anyone do anything gamut, none of these women has ever been a fashion paragon. )

I mention this last bit only because I break out into hives whenever I buy M. anything, because I want it to fit into what he likes, rather than what I think he should like.