[Domenic_S]

Wife's the scapegoat. Saying "my wife wouldn't be happy with X" is just saying "I don't want to do X" while shunting the blame away from yourself.

[nsxwolf]

You're obviously not married.

[Domenic_S]

I'd say I don't have a wife, but there's a woman who'd be mad at me for saying that ;)

Seriously, people use the wife or parents scapegoat all the time. In high school my mother told me if I was at a party and being peer-pressured into something I didn't want to do, to blame her in order to get out.

[topbanana]

Absolutely. I have friends like this.