Fun & Famous

THIS HAS REALLY BEEN SAID BY MOTHERS-IN-LAW

The worst things mothers-in-law can do

I know, I know, I've already commented on the phenomenon of mothers-in-law (read here for a moment, man oh man) and especially on their witty one-liners, but there is again a fresh harvest of comments that gave me an overwhelming urge to share. So here we go. All really said.

“I think you’re getting heavier really quickly, you know.”

This was said by the mother-in-law of friend D (who herself weighs a messy 100 kilos) when my friend was seven months pregnant. And then not saying anything back, huh. We are just too polite for that.

Or this one. Friend E went with her sister-in-law and mother-in-law to the promotion of a family friend. “Couldn’t you have worn something nicer?” said the mother-in-law rather unsubtly to the sister-in-law. “But I really like this,” replied the sister-in-law who had really put a lot of effort into her outfit. Her mother-in-law didn’t quite agree. “Well, I think it’s more something for E.” Speaking of delivering sharp blows.

“Do you want something else?”

Friend F has a husband who has a very close bond with his mother. Or actually, his mother has a very close bond with him. When she visits him, she first kisses him on the mouth (which is already quite odd, right?) and hugs him and whispers all kinds of words in their own language in his ear. Then she looks at him and asks if she should make his special omelet. According to her, he could use that. With that, she seems to insinuate that my friend doesn’t take good care of her son. In fact, she is unworthy of her son altogether, but anyway. Back to the kitchen where she prepares an elaborate love omelet (which by the way is really not as tasty as this one) for her son, which she presents to him with a lot of drama. After she has been watching him for about fifteen seconds with her head tilted as he takes a bite of the omelet, she casually asks my friend: “Do you want something else?”

“You could also make soup from that dust on your computer.”

My friend considered responding with the remark that you could cook better soup from mothers-in-law, but she wisely swallowed that…