Analysis: Mil Millington - Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About

 I wanted to write about Mil Millington as his story are also set in a university and are aimed at the same readers that I intend to capture with my own stories 

Things my girlfriend and I have argued about by Mil Millington (2011)

I chose this story to begin with as this story reflected somewhat the Story of Milk who also worked in a low-level job and whose life is not going well, Millington has a girlfriend who is German and there is the culture clash and in my own story Milk is Snglish and Honey is American, therefore, I wanted to look at the use of language and how this story has been written to inform my own work here.

I will begin by looking at a little extract here from Millington: 

'Nothing keeps a relationship on its toes so much as lively debate. Fortunate, then, that my girlfriend and I agree on absolutely nothing. At all.

Combine utter, polar disagreement on everything, ever, with the fact that I am a text-book Only Child, and she is a violent psychopath, and we're warming up. Then factor in my being English while she is German, which not only makes each one of us personally and absolutely responsible for the history, and the social and cultural mores of our respective countries, but also opens up a whole field of sub-arguments grounded in grammatical and semantic disputes and, well, just try saying anything and walking away.' (Millington M thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com)

This is the beginning on the webpage (a weirdly terrible page, which I am assuming is meant to be like this as a joke*) I am referring to this only because my Millington books are happily sitting on my bookshelf at home and so I cannot reach out to quote from there at this present moment when I am sitting at my work, at my desk in my awful tin box of a building that has escaped being condemned several times.

t the beginning of the text note that it starts with a hook that set the tone for the writing, in two lines we know that he and his girlfriend argue. This is then strengthened by the next sentence, with the use of adjectives strengthening the writer's first person point of view. Then by using hyperbole ' she is a violent psychopath' works well to get the reader's attention, to get the reader to take the writer of the story's point of view, and to ensure they read on...more interesting the writer then states they are both responsible for their own countries history which is something that you discover upon speaking to those from another place that you discuss the differences and similarities and then find yourself explaining a strange idiomatic practice of your country as it really doesn't make much sense.  

the text goes on to listing items of annoyance..

'Examples? Okey-dokey. We have argued about:

Ahhhhhhhh

The way one should cut a Kiwi Fruit in half (along its length or across the middle).

Leaving the kitchen door open (three times a day that one, minimum).

The best way to hang up washing.

Those little toothpaste speckles you make when you brush your teeth in front of the mirror.

I eat two-fingered Kit-Kats like I'd eat any other chocolate bars of that size, i.e., without feeling the need to snap them into two individual fingers first. Margret accused me of doing this, 'deliberately to annoy her'.

Which way - the distances were identical - to drive round a circular bypass (this resulted in her kicking me in the head from the back seat as I drove along).

The amount of time I spend on the computer. (OK, fair enough.)' (Millington M thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com)

This is a list which is devices that you can use in a story but it has to be interesting so here there is a description - the item on toothpaste refers to something that happened when brushing your teeth the majority of people can relate to this as this immediately brings to mind.  Throughout the writing uses similarities and the comfort of British humour and mannerisms to tell a story - the website is about himself and his girlfriend arguing however the book as Robinson point out is 'At thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com, Millington details the ludicrous, colorful fights between himself and Margret, a German woman with whom he's had a longstanding relationship and two children. His novel features a similar couple–Pel and Ursula–who have similar fights, and it employs some of the same wry, dry, despairing, quintessentially British humor, but otherwise it's a separate entity whose title just happens to trade on Millington's small share of Internet fame.' (Robinson, 2003)

Millington does use humour, wit, and hyperbole throughout but he also tells a good story and created characters that makes the reader want more - this is what makes this book work and in my own story I have been working on the characters for some time but I do need to make the writing stand out much more to make this story compelling enough.  

I will be studying the text and use of language here further but mostly I will redraft and reraft again until I believe the words on my own pages are compelling. 

*;Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About, is a carryover from his hilarious (and hilariously ugly) cult web site. (Robinson, 2003)

References

Millington, M. (no date) Things my girlfriend and I have argued about. Available at: http://www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com/ (Accessed: February 6, 2023). 

Millington, M. (2001) Things my girlfriend and I argue about, The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/apr/21/familyandrelationships1 (Accessed: February 6, 2023). 

Robinson, T. (2003) Mil Millington: Things my girlfriend and I have argued about: A novel, The A.V. Club. The A.V. Club. Available at: https://www.avclub.com/mil-millington-things-my-girlfriend-and-i-have-argued-1798198231 (Accessed: February 6, 2023).