Women tend to talk about relationships and people. Men tend to talk about things or activities. If the divorced woman griped about her ex to their mutual friends I can see why the woman was less popular than her former husband. Especially if she was overtly or covertly trying to get her friends to take sides.
I always think of this classic from Bill Engvall:
I was at the gym the other day working out with my buddy. My buddy Joey. And he goes “hey, man, I’m getting a divorce.”
I said “Wow, that sucks. Can you spot me?”
That was our whole conversation! So then I go home to my wife, and I say “Hey, Joey is getting a divorce.”
She goes “Oh, my God! What happened?”
“I dunno.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Is she cheating on him, is he cheating on her?”
“Again, I’m not holding anything back here, I don’t know!”
She goes “Bill, someone tells you they’re getting a divorce and you don’t ask any questions?”
And I go “Well, that’s because he didn’t ask me a question!
He didn’t say ‘hey Bill, what do you think about me getting a divorce?’, he said, ‘I’m getting a divorce’, which said to me, ‘I require no further input on your part.’”
If he had said ‘What do you think about me getting a divorce?’, I’d have said, ‘Well, you’re gonna be dating again, so you should work on your abs’.
“Women tend to talk about relationships and people. Men tend to talk about things or activities.”
Then there are geeks—who tend to talk about ideas.
;-)