His mother calls from the kitchen and tells him to light the fire and put the meat on the grill.

NEWYORKER: Ash Monday

This can destabilize the marriage: When his mother and his wife are battling, a man's self-preservation instinct tells him to hide.

WSJ: Getting Along With the Original Other Woman��Your Mother-in-Law

So when Patrick tells a funeral guest that the death of his mother is the best thing that has happened to him since the death of his father, he is being deflectively witty and also being morbidly earnest.

NEWYORKER: Noble Savages

Poizner tells us, for example that he accelerated his way through high school to appease his mother, who told him she was dying from a fatal disease.

FORBES: Poizner's Poser Prose