A friend was complaining that her boyfriend would not say "I love you," even if explicitly asked to do so. The only exception, she said, was when they were in fact in the act of making love. Then, if asked, he would say the sacred words.

I suggested that she should not take too much comfort in the exception. When making love, I explained, men will say anything.

"He'd tell you he's the Easter Bunny if that's what he thinks you want to hear," I told her. The conversation rattled on from there.

A couple of weeks later, she related the following.

"We were in bed, making love. I said, 'Tell me you love me.'
He said, 'I love you.'
I said 'Tell me you're the Easter Bunny.'
He stopped for a second, and said, 'I'm the Easter Bunny.'
So I slapped him."

The poor guy probably still doesn't know what happened.