Constant Kvetching vs. Statement of Fact

My husband, because of his lack of experience living with Jewish women (his mother is Italian and converted to Judaism-so she really doesn't count), does not understand the difference between kvetching and a statement of fact.

Oy, (the standard alta kockah opening for any statement of fact) does my back hurt.
That's a fact. Why does my back hurt so much? Maybe I have been sitting in an uncomfortable chair working all day, or I have been standing in the kitchen too long cooking dinner, or I have been moving furniture, climbing on chairs and reaching to vacuum behind the couch or the 11ft of crown molding in the house.

Oy, am I tired.
Another fact. Why am I tired? Maybe I couldn't sleep. Why couldn't I sleep? Let me count the ways. First there is stress from work. Next there is the cat, who insists on sleeping between our pillows. Then there is the Afro-Caribbean music from the man in the next building playing until 1 in the morning. Lest I not forget snoring, his, the cats, my own. Can I sleep late, no, I have to get up to go to work.

Oy, am I cold or Oy, am I hot.
Men just don't understand that narrow window of comfort we middle age women develop. It can be 10 degrees out, I need the window open, it's too hot in the bedroom. It can be 75 degrees, I need the air conditioner on, it's too hot. However, I get cold. Standing on the bike path that runs along the Belt Parkway, in 20 degree weather with the wind blowing in my face, scanning the bay for the gull with the yellow bill, in the wrong long johns on-I catch a chill I can't rid of.

The list can go on and on. But I am not kvetching because to kvetch I would have to be complaining and I am not complaining. I am stating a fact.

Statement of fact: Oy, do I have a headache. There were 5 loud speaker announcements on the F train today between York St. and East Broadway.

Kvetch: Oy, I couldn't even get 2 minutes of peace on the subway today. My head aches from the constant droning over the loud speakers about not giving money to strangers, not leaving packages unattended, following the crew's instructions in case of an emergency. And the best one-it's dangerous to ride on the outside of a train car while the train is in motion. They had to give me a headache, to tell me this. Nu? do you think the misshuggahs riding on the OUTSIDE of the train are going to hear the announcement INSIDE the train? Vey is mir...

Now that's kvetching!