[JamesP81]

There's a serious side to all this too.

I've never had a serious relationship, but more than one of my friends involved in them have told me that their girlfriends / fiances / wives will not keep their mouths shut about things that they should. The most common problem is that a man's significant other will tell everything he says to her to her mother, who will promptly distribute it to the whole planet (this is really bad if the guy was saying something about someone else, as it then usually gets back to the person). It's really frustrating for men because once it happens once, we don't feel like we can tell our significant others anything. We feel we can only tell them things we'd tell strangers or not-so-close friends.

[the lastbestlady]

If your friends have wives like that, they chose POORLY.

[Froufrou]

this is really bad if the guy was saying something about someone else, as it then usually gets back to the person

I've got one one for you: gossip. That's what you've described here. And it's a real embarrassment to women. I try very, very hard not to participate and it's got much to do with why I don't have many lady friends.