When my daughter starts dating, I’m going to pay special attention to the number of letters in his last name.  Why?  According to Uncommon Goods, one of my favorite stores, “People with very short last names don’t spend much, whereas people with names 14 letters long spend 16% more than average.”  I can attest to this phenomenon.  My last name is five letters and, well, my husband is cheap.  [it's ok.  he knows.]  I had a former boss that had 14 letters in his name and he was very generous with the Christmas gifts and raises.

Another truth noted was that “AOL users spent on average 12.2% more than users of other email services.”  A quick look over at Glassdoor.com shows there are companies still passing out the bonuses and it isn’t just the banks.  The highest AOL bonuses seem to go to the male-dominated technical field.  Maybe women get a bigger salary…

One “curious truth” I would argue with, however is #5 – The older you get, the more you care about other people.  Maybe they mean really old, because the older I get, the grumpier I get, just like my grandmother and her grandmother before her.   As a mom and wife, my patience  is usually lost somewhere around dinnertime and my stress level has exceeded the line chart.  But, I will admit, I do care deeply for my family and Christmas holds a special place for all moms.  In fact, I would forgo any gift so that my child could wake up Christmas morning, run downstairs and light up because she did get that one special thing she asked for.  In fact, that is the present I hope for year after year and it never gets old.

I think if Uncommon Goods had a #8, it would be that 80 percent of children and adolescent gifts are purchased by women.  And, I’m pretty sure that time spent looking on the site in that one department would be much longer for women searching for the perfect choice.