I think the deeper issue here is my own self-perception, which I might project on to others, since they ask/tell me to do something, and my first inner reaction is, "Do you think I'm so stupid I wouldn't have known to do that?" My husband (and mother) are not the only culprits. Perfect strangers have been known to feel the need to tell me basic, elementary things any normal four-year-old would know. When I was working as a checkout clerk in a grocery store, a co-worker thought she had to inform me that the helium balloon a customer was purchasing would float away if I didn't keep it anchored. I was in my 30's, and she thought I didn't know that? I could cite more examples.

I believe I might send off some kind of "I'm stupid" signal to people. In fact I have always been under the impression that people consider me stupid, which is why I was that hand-waving know-it-all in class.