24
Told a joke about my mother-in-law at Thanksgiving dinner. Wrong crowd. My wife's family.
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
james_kim15d ago
OH MAN, I used to be exactly like you. I would ALWAYS tell jokes at family dinners thinking I was the life of the party. Then one time I cracked a joke about my wife's cooking in front of her mom and dad. Her mom just stared at me like I'd grown a second head. My wife didn't talk to me for two days. After that I started watching what I said around the in-laws because family humor is like walking through a minefield blindfolded. You never know which joke is gonna blow up in your face.
5
That bit about "walking through a minefield blindfolded" is exactly right man. You think you know what's safe to joke about but then you accidentally step on something you didn't even see coming. Like with mother-in-law jokes, you might think it's all in good fun but some families take that stuff super personal. I've seen guys get totally shut out of holiday dinners for years over one dumb joke. The worst part is you don't even realize you crossed a line until you see the looks on their faces and then it's way too late to take it back. You basically have to learn the hard way that some jokes just aren't worth the risk, especially around people who don't know your sense of humor yet.
1
iris_davis9012d ago
OH GOSH, I think there's another angle nobody's talking about here. The problem isn't always WHAT you joke about. Sometimes it's WHEN you joke. I remember at my cousin's wedding, her new husband's uncle made a joke about them having kids right away at the reception. Everyone laughed but my cousin had just told us she'd had a miscarriage a few months back. That poor uncle had no idea he was stepping on that landmine. Timing matters just as much as the joke itself, you know?
5