I keep calling my girlfriend by my ex-girlfriend’s name.
Obviously, it’s a major no-no, but somehow it slips out before I can catch it. I’ve done it four times in the six months we’ve gone out.
She gets infuriated and it’s stressing our relationship. I think she has a right to her anger.
My family tends to use wrong names (my Mum often calls me by my Dad’s name) and I picked up from this, rather than anything to do with my-ex. We broke up on bad terms and I have no interest in her.
Explaining that there’s no significance to this mistake hasn’t gone over well (understandably) since she feels it signifies that a) I don’t really treasure her, or b) I’m still thinking about my ex.
How can I break this awkward habit?

- Embarrassed

While you’re not alone in making this mistake, you need to stop excusing it as a family habit, and recognize it as your own careless action.
Unless you boost your thinking before you speak, and mentally practice saying your girlfriend’s name – especially during intimacy – more no-no slips could land you out of this relationship.
If you can’t guarantee avoiding the forbidden name, start calling your girlfriend “sweetie” or some other love-name she’ll appreciate. How about “treasure?”

My boyfriend and his female boss have a very close relationship. He’ll go on and on about what she thinks and what she says and although I’m trying to be supportive, I’m sick of it.
He’s always been available to her evenings, weekends etc responding to all the numerous emails she sends him. She even calls on weekends.
Now, with me in his life, I think she’s challenged to realize that he needs a healthy balance of work/personal time.
However, she’s a workaholic. Although she told him that she needs to understand that not everyone checks emails all weekend, she asked him to check once in the evening just in case she sends anything urgent.
I supported this but in the last week, she sent him emails of personal nature in the evening... something she bought, something or someone she saw... yet he responded.
She knows I’m with him in the evenings so this really upset me. I lost it. I said that if this really bothers me and I believe it’s crossing the line, he should consider my feelings.
Could I have handled this differently?

- Frustrated and Fed Up

You’re on the right track by being both supportive when it’s work-related, and forthright about your feelings when it’s not.
However, it’s up to your guy to set limits on his relationship with his boss. It seems he tried, but he needs to realize that she’s not only a workaholic; she’s also a self-absorbed attention hog. This is likely because she puts so much time into her work; she’s developed few close relationships outside of it, and has too few people who’ll care who she saw that day or what she bought.
He has to gently extricate himself from this role – which, by the way, is not healthy for him in his job, let alone for your relationship.
Too much familiarity between boss and employee breeds too much taking advantage, and not enough respect.
Instead of making this only about your feelings, talk to him as a partner about getting some distance from her, for his sake. He should tell her he’ll only reply to urgent mail on weekends, and nothing else.

I was maid of honour at my friend’s wedding and spent much of that weekend with the best man, her husband's brother, who lived far away. We kept in contact though never met again. Through our phone conversations, he confided in me about his wild past, including that he’d fathered a child.
My friend recently had a baby, heralded as "the first grandchild.” I feel so guilty knowing otherwise. I worry that everyone will eventually find out about his child, and that I knew about it and said nothing.

- What to Do?

It’s not your responsibility to share this secret. Doing so could cause a great divide and pain in the family. No one would thank you for your part.
By contrast, keeping a confidence is admirable, if there’s no danger to others from it.
Stop worrying, and focus on welcoming your friend’s new baby. This isn’t about you.