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Original poster

What do you call a middle aged woman in Nando's?

208 replies

Crabapplepiechart · 30/12/2025 11:40

Peri peri menopausal.

AIBU to think this is a great joke? My partner came up with it this morning and isn't as proud of it as I think he should be.

YANBU - it's hilarious
YABU - it's only worthy of a cheap Christmas cracker

OP posts:
BatchCookBabe · 30/12/2025 14:10

MeouwKing · 30/12/2025 13:51

Not as funny as "I put my vacuum cleaner on Ebay, it was only gathering dust"

Tim Vine. Grin Won Joke Of The Year about a decade ago, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

HelpMeGetThrough · 30/12/2025 14:09

MeouwKing · 30/12/2025 13:51

Not as funny as "I put my vacuum cleaner on Ebay, it was only gathering dust"

Or the one Bob Monkhouse came out with years ago.

“When I told my friends I was going to be a comedian, they laughed at me.

They’re not laughing now.”

Dare say he nicked that one too.

ZeldaFighter · 30/12/2025 14:08

My DH's best ever joke:

Me: do you even know what peri-menopause is?
DH (Quick as a flash): is it like menopause but made with pears?

I cried laughing

ArseSkinForAFriend · 30/12/2025 14:08

watermybegonias · 30/12/2025 14:05

Well it made me laugh!

Probably because I took it at face value and didn’t over analyse ….

In all my years on Mumsnet I have never seen a joke that everyone likes and where no-one posts to piss on others chips, instead of scrolling past.

But then again, on just about every "Post your funniest joke" thread, at least 3 people will say "What's brown and sticky? A stick".

That's still the joke they consider the funniest in 2025.

watermybegonias · 30/12/2025 14:05

Well it made me laugh!

Probably because I took it at face value and didn’t over analyse ….

LlynTegid · 30/12/2025 14:05

The OP probably finds Mrs Brown's Boys funny.

Kibble19 · 30/12/2025 14:04

I like it. I did one of those exhale laugh things.

I just knew the thread would be full of people getting upset though. 😅

Slawbans · 30/12/2025 14:03

Not that funny but not offensive either.

I think if you wanted to be offensive you’d have to go with : What do you call an angry middle-aged woman in Nando’s?

Bebetterbetty · 30/12/2025 14:03

MeouwKing · 30/12/2025 13:51

Not as funny as "I put my vacuum cleaner on Ebay, it was only gathering dust"

See, now thats a proper joke!

WalkDontWalk · 30/12/2025 14:02

ArseSkinForAFriend · 30/12/2025 13:44

Clearly.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+do+you+call+a+middle+aged+woman+in+nandos+joke&oq=what+do+you+call+a+middle+aged+woman+in+nandos+joke&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRiPAtIBCDg4MTVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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You'll notice that although AI quotes a slightly different (and better-constructed) perimenopause joke, all the supporting source material is of Delaney doing the 'periperineum' joke. So it's AI getting things a bit wrong again, maybe.

Not that it matters.

I think the perineum one is very funny, by the way.

Bebetterbetty · 30/12/2025 14:02

I absolutely love Christmas cracker jokes.

But this didn’t make me laugh. I’m not sure where the joke is. It’s not a play on words. Sorry, just didn’t make me laugh.

DivaEx · 30/12/2025 14:01

Tough crown.

MeouwKing · 30/12/2025 13:57

nomas · 30/12/2025 13:55

Now THAT is funny!

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It's possible to joke without offending anyone

BringBackCatsEyes · 30/12/2025 13:56

It's only offensive if you find being called peri menopausal offensive.
As it is often used to beat women with - along with all the tired "oh it's her hormones" then I can see why it might upset some.

Dunno, if I was going through a horrible peri and had been awful to those around me (who knew the reason for my behaviour) then they threw that joke at me, I guess I wouldn't find it funny, or I'd find it insensitive I guess.

In a different context, it's literally just a play on words.

nomas · 30/12/2025 13:55

MeouwKing · 30/12/2025 13:51

Not as funny as "I put my vacuum cleaner on Ebay, it was only gathering dust"

Now THAT is funny!

nomas · 30/12/2025 13:55

The I think this joke is so bad it’s in the same category as not finding your own farts smelly.

MeouwKing · 30/12/2025 13:51

Not as funny as "I put my vacuum cleaner on Ebay, it was only gathering dust"

BatchCookBabe · 30/12/2025 13:49

ArseSkinForAFriend · 30/12/2025 13:44

Clearly.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+do+you+call+a+middle+aged+woman+in+nandos+joke&oq=what+do+you+call+a+middle+aged+woman+in+nandos+joke&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRiPAtIBCDg4MTVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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And it's not even HIS joke. 🙄

He reminds me of a tedious, annoying man my DH knows from work - he only sees him 2-3 times a month because of their differing shifts. He always comes up with 'hilarious' jokes, and they are always ALWAYS taken from somewhere else.

He even tries to present things on WhatsApp to DH and several other men they both know, as if he has just made it up, and 4 times out of 5, me and DH have seen it on Twitter or TikTok the week before!

Typical, not-very-funny man in his 50s, who is trying to be funnier and more clever than they are. 🙄 Many of them are like this.

.

crinkletits · 30/12/2025 13:48

Ba dum tss it is not

Cherrytree86 · 30/12/2025 13:46

Easily amused aren’t you, OP
@Crabapplepiechart

BatchCookBabe · 30/12/2025 13:44

Dgll · 30/12/2025 13:41

I think it is because men get irritability and mood swings, fat round their middle, lack of energy, some memory loss and lower sex drive as they get older, but for some reason they don't seem to want to draw attention to that with hilarious jokes in Nandos.

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Good point, well made. It's like the ludicrous and innacurate myth that men age better than women. LOL no they don't. I have seen more women over 50 who look good, than men over 50 who do!

I'm weirdly not really offended, but I am a bit 🙄Like 'oh ha ha another totes hilaire 'joke' about women and their 'problems...'

BumpyaDaisyevna · 30/12/2025 13:41

I fear your DH is in danger of getting a bottle of peri peri sauce tipped right over his head ….

WalkDontWalk · 30/12/2025 13:41

ArseSkinForAFriend · 30/12/2025 13:33

The joke.

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Then you're using a different Google to me.

Dgll · 30/12/2025 13:41

CasperGutman · 30/12/2025 12:03

It made me smile momentarily but it's not hilarious.

I didn't see it as misogynistic or ageist though. There's obviously a strong association between peri-menopause and being a "woman of a certain age". The joke doesn't mock or criticise women. I'd be interested in why others find it problematic.

I wonder if the issue is partly that the OP's partner is male? Would the joke have landed better if the source was female? Would it come off OK from, say, Jo Brand or Sarah Millican?

Jokes that are seen as punching down in that they are made at the expense of groups that are or have been targets of discrimination are bad, but does this joke punch down? It's just a mild bit of wordplay and doesn't really punch at all, does it?

ETA: basically, what @MagpieOak said!

Edited

I think it is because men get irritability and mood swings, fat round their middle, lack of energy, some memory loss and lower sex drive as they get older, but for some reason they don't seem to want to draw attention to that with hilarious jokes in Nandos.