There really is something to this Five Love Languages thing

You know what I'm talking about, right? The Five Love Languages? It's a book by a guy named Dr. Gary Chapman, the premise of which is that we each give and prefer to receive love in different ways. Those ways, in Dr. Chapman's construct, are Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch (see above).

As the book suggests, each of us has at least one of those languages we prefer above the others, though being the complex creatures we are, it's not like we want our partner to focus on just one of them and totally ignore the other four.

Still, in my experience, your dominant Love Language preference is pretty strong and pretty obvious.

For my wife, it is and always has been Acts of Service. If you rub her feet or carry something for her or do some household chore she would like to have done, trust me, buddy, you'll be enjoying her gourmet meals for a lifetime. (And by "buddy," I'm referring to the next guy she marries after I die trying to lift something entirely too heavy for me as an Act of Service.)

For me, it's Words of Affirmation. I don't mean that you need to follow me around the house and let me know every seven seconds how great I'm doing. I just mean it's nice to hear every once in a while that I'm on the right track, I'm doing the right things, you're happy, etc.

And conversely, you really need to tell me if I'm not on the right track, not doing the right things, and you're not happy. It's that communication thing, folks. It has to happen.

Anyway, I'm always fascinated to learn people's Love Languages, because honestly, I'm really bad at guessing what they are. I'm not the best reader/observer of people, so when I learn which of the five on the list is someone's favorite, I'm often surprised and grateful to learn something new about them.

You can take a quiz to learn your Love Language(s) (and your partner's Love Language(s)) at Dr. Oldman's Five Love Languages website. There's a whole lot more to it than I'm explaining here, so trust me when I say it's worth the investment of your time if you're someone who is involved in a relationship.