n.The moment politeness replaces intimacy, and both people notice and say nothing.
The Human Diary editorial term
Thank You for the Tea
The marriage ended, as far as Beth could ever determine afterwards, on a Thursday in February, when Adam said thank you for the tea.
He had not said thank you for the tea in nineteen years.
That was not rudeness. That had been the whole architecture of it — the enormous unspoken economy in which she made the tea and he took the bins out and neither of them acknowledged either, because acknowledgment was for guests.
And then, on a Thursday, in a perfectly pleasant voice, he said: "Thanks, love. That's great."