Ugh, just dump these people. However successful they may be, they are still L-O-S-E-R-S if they cannot control themselves around each other in polite company.

Mpetrie98 is right. That crap sucks all the fun out of the room, except for the satirists who are taking notes.

"Is there any way to stop the tension and this rude behavior?"

Let them stay home! Life is too short!

Great title, Amy :-D

I wouldn't dump them. They're neighbors and friends. I'm with Amy--see them each alone. And tell them the truth--I love you guys to pieces but I just can't handle the fighting.

If you're really good friends with them, take one shot at speaking to each of them quitely about the situation. However, don't get your hopes up; people like this rarely change their relationship stripes. And don't be surprised if they both turn on you -- couples can be odd that way.

Best thing would probably be to start phasing them out of your social occasions.

You can always tell who the introverts are - they say, 'Dump those people!'

And I know this because I am one of them. I can barely stand to be around COOL people for any length of time, let alone annoying rude ones who fight all the time.

Either way, though, you can't "get" people to change. You'll either have to see them separately, put up with their nonsense, or stop seeing them altogether.

So true, Pirate Jo. I sometimes forget that I'm not a weird person for being so introverted.

I do agree with Laura, though, who suggests just telling one or both of them "I love you guys, but I can't handle the fighting". That's a non-controversial way of pointing out the problem to them and reminding them that they could use an adjustment. If they don't get it, see them separately. If it helps them to figure out their problem, even better.

Great stuff, Amy!

It had been awhile since I've visited, so I just got to read about 8 of these columns of yours in a row. The quality always reminds me why I keep returning.

I will ensure to visit more often now so I don't have so much catching up to do. Keep up the good work! :-)

I had a couple of good friends just like this. They would fight immediately and publicly over anything.

He wound up having a affair with his best friend's wife, which ended up crashing both marriages and with him moved back to the state he grew up in, and took his (new) wife with him.

All of us who were standing nearby got some of that on us. The explosion was sudden and messy.

Since then, couples that fight at the drop of a hat and in public get a lot more distance from me. I think that that communication style is indicative of structural problems in the relationship.

I thought I was going to read a harangue against introversion when I got through the first sentence of Pirate Jo's post. But -- the news is good -- that wasn't the case at all.

Like Jo, I can only handle even cool people for brief periods. Excitable people drain me in no time flat.

While the introverts on this board, including myself, seem to be extreme cases, we should remember that introversion/extroversion are but the two extremes. Most people exist somewhere in the middle. Like human sexuality, it's a spectrum, not a one or the other.

Although when it comes to both sexuality and introversion, I'm an extreme case.

bang the wife. Don't tell the husband, as she will in due course. At which point, they will divorce, move out and you will be living in peace and quiet.