Friday, September 09, 2005
Ma-in-Law
Being married, I have a mother-in-law. Kinda happens that way, I suppose, but it makes me wonder about mother-in-law jokes. They seem to have fallen by the wayside over the years, but there are a ton of 'em. And I never understood their popularity.
And quite often the stereotype doesn't come close to fitting my relationship with my ma-in-law. While her politics (when they make sense at all) are often divergent (if not out-right opposed) to mine, we get along fairly well. The only time we come into conflict is when she drives Mrs Sivana up the wall, which seems to be a hobby with her.
The closest I've actually come to making a mother-in-law joke was a week or so ago, when she asked me to lock the door behind her as she left. Actually, I believe the phrase was "lock me out"... She then balked, remembering she had a key and started to dig for it.
I couldn't help it. I mean she did set me up; it would almost have been an insult if I hadn't followed up....
"No, no. That's OK.... I'll do it. It's not everyday a fellow's allowed to lock out his mother-in-law".
She grinned widely.
It didn't get a big a laugh from her (or from my wife) as the time she was leaving and I had to remind her I had a bucket of shit for her*....
As a side note/question, while MiL jokes are numerous, I don't recall there being many son-in-law jokes. And those that do exist are usually told by fathers, not mothers, grousing about them. In daughter-in-law jokes are even rarer. Why is that?
(*I should probably explain that she has a garden and we have cats. You can do the math.)
Being married, I have a mother-in-law. Kinda happens that way, I suppose, but it makes me wonder about mother-in-law jokes. They seem to have fallen by the wayside over the years, but there are a ton of 'em. And I never understood their popularity.
And quite often the stereotype doesn't come close to fitting my relationship with my ma-in-law. While her politics (when they make sense at all) are often divergent (if not out-right opposed) to mine, we get along fairly well. The only time we come into conflict is when she drives Mrs Sivana up the wall, which seems to be a hobby with her.
The closest I've actually come to making a mother-in-law joke was a week or so ago, when she asked me to lock the door behind her as she left. Actually, I believe the phrase was "lock me out"... She then balked, remembering she had a key and started to dig for it.
I couldn't help it. I mean she did set me up; it would almost have been an insult if I hadn't followed up....
"No, no. That's OK.... I'll do it. It's not everyday a fellow's allowed to lock out his mother-in-law".
She grinned widely.
It didn't get a big a laugh from her (or from my wife) as the time she was leaving and I had to remind her I had a bucket of shit for her*....
As a side note/question, while MiL jokes are numerous, I don't recall there being many son-in-law jokes. And those that do exist are usually told by fathers, not mothers, grousing about them. In daughter-in-law jokes are even rarer. Why is that?
(*I should probably explain that she has a garden and we have cats. You can do the math.)
# posted by Alexi Sivana : 11:49 AM
