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Original poster

Things you thought were normal/harmless until joining mumsnet

595 replies

Antsinyourpanta · 16/09/2021 09:41

(Lighthearted )
lots of things that I thought were quite normal /fine/harmless before I joined MM seem to be quite abhorrent to a large percentage of posters. I often find myself wondering about whether my perceived normal is actually the minority. Some examples

Home made food or cakes - I bloody love home made cakes and think they are always nicer than shop bought - my first thoughts when offered one is usually yum, a cake! I've never given a moments thought to whether the person owns cats or dogs or has a hygeine certificate.

Ensuite bathrooms - I've got an ensuite bathroom. It's used for any instance where you may need a toilet. Apparently this is very very wrong.

Eating carbs

Bayliss and Harding toiletries - I would not be offended by this as a gift unless it was from my husband

(I'm with you on Thorntons though - they are nasty)

Answering the door to someone - if I see ex criminals selling stuff door to door, I dont answer, otherwise I dont have a problem with answering the door, and i get on with all of my neighbours.

Speaking to and socialising with work colleagues - i speak to, socialise (outside of work) and am friends with most of my work colleagues. I'd count many of them as friends. We buy each other birthday cards and presents and sometimes bring in cakes. (See point 1)

What are the things you've been educated on since joining MN?

OP posts:
Porridgealert · 17/09/2021 19:06

I never realised that when my dh leaves the top of the toothpaste that he's actually emotionally abusing me, probably gaslighting, he has another woman on the side,and he's manipulating me into a breakdown so he can get the house and full custody of the kids. I foolishly just thought he was untidy. MN has educated me.

DroopyClematis · 17/09/2021 19:06

I have the very best duvet cover. It's 30 years old and was a wedding present. It was on our wedding list ( shudder) and came from John Lewis. It's thread count is probably three threads to the inch now, and no hotel fancy Egyptian Cotton , high thread count can come close to the snuggly loveliness of this duvet cover. It's percale . Bog standard and wonderful.
AND... it's patterned... not white!!!

Shitzngiggles · 17/09/2021 19:07

The sheer hatred for landlords on here is off the scale and something I have never come across in the real world.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
Mumwithbaggage · 17/09/2021 19:10

I missed the loo brush thing. Is it not OK? Even if it's from Boden? And what's wrong with an en suite? I have two. I will go and hang my head in shame twice!

Uberstar · 17/09/2021 19:12

Leaves washing out overnight, owns a hot tub, gives squash to the children to drink, has a loo brush, has a fire pit in the garden, and going on a long weekend to centre parks with the girls from work next week 😁😆
Certified chav apparently!

DroopyClematis · 17/09/2021 19:12

And I have two toilet brushes .

I've never charged rent to my adult children. I want them to save . Amazingly , when they're at home, they do cooking, cleaning and gardening!

I absolutely loved my in-laws who were the most amazing people that I've ever met.

I was a SAHM for a good number of years and my husband paid for everything. When I started work part time, he still paid for just about everything.
31 years and counting.

Ziegfeld · 17/09/2021 19:14

Actually having RTFT I think I must be peak MN because nearly all this this stuff I am on board with. I hate loo brushes even though I own one, I am deeply suspicious about hot tubs and think I would walk across hot coals before buying an item of clothing with Paw Patrol on it. I even named my child something I don’t like so I could call him something else I do like. Do I get a certificate? MNer of the year?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 17/09/2021 19:16

@Sparklingbrook

I left it out by accident overnight once. It was damp in the morning and didn’t smell as nice .
That's because it was "darked on" and spiders rubbed their willies on it.

There is an entire thread somewhere on the iniquity of willie-waving spiders and the damage getting "darked on" does to sheets.

bookworm14 · 17/09/2021 19:17

@Spudlet

Gaming! DH and I are both gamers. This means that we are both incurably stuck in a state of arrested development and are under no circumstances relationship material. We are probably neglecting our family in order to foolishly spend our time on such childish pursuits, too. Tut tut.
Oh god, this. On MN, gamers are all violence-obsessed teenagers or socially inadequate men-children whose deviant hobby prevents them from functioning properly in society. In real life, 72% of gamers are over 18, and half are female.
LoveFall · 17/09/2021 19:19

Toilet brushes are "grim." I currently have two, one for each toilet. I have had toilet brushes my whole life and so far nothing even remotely grim has happened to me. But I would not dream of putting them in the dishwasher. That would be worse than grim.

Dogs are walking disgusting germy creatures who sniff poo and other dog's rear ends all day. Actually, my dog as far as I know doesn't sniff poo, which is religiously picked up in my neighbourhood. He doesn't like meeting other dogs when on leash so no bum sniffing either.

Dog dishes should not go in the dishwasher. Why not? The dishwasher sanitizes things. The dish is smooth like a dish not bristly like a brush.

Ditto on the ensuite bathroom thing. I love ours. Why do so many Mumsnetters think normal human functions should be completely hidden away? I would understand if the toilet was beside the bed...

Tumble driers are the root cause of all evil. Maybe I am biased by being a North American (Canadian) who has had a drier my entire life, but I just don't get the obsession with draping laundry all over the house. I use an outside line whenever I can, but today for an example, it is pouring rain. The one thing I really find stressful when visiting England is the no tumble drier but also no garden thing. Laundry everywhere. No. Just no.

Don't get me wrong, I love England and would happily move there. But I would have a tumble drier and an ensuite. Oh, and a super king bed. What's up with squeezing two adults into a double bed?

ViceLikeBlip · 17/09/2021 19:24

I have on a very small number of occasions been known to take my eyes off my children.

Eralos · 17/09/2021 19:50

Drinking socially/moderately (not in any way excessive) makes you an alcoholic. Anything more than half a Sherry at Christmas makes you a raging drunk.

AnnieSnap · 17/09/2021 19:51

Must say, I’m loving this lighthearted, funny thread!

I didn’t know that my tumble dryer was unacceptable to MNs. I adore my garden and won’t sully it with a washing line (although I don’t wish to impose my quirk on others). I know it uses electricity unnecessarily and that isn’t ideal for the environment, but it is not powered by gas and I recycle, don’t eat meat (the meat industry is more damaging than aviation and the cruise industry combined). I am British in the UK whilst loving my tumble dryer by the way 🤷‍♀️

Also, what on earth is the problem with an en suite? Are we not supposed to poo in them, or is it something else? Who are we going to offend using the facilities in our own home?

me4real · 17/09/2021 19:57

I really like loo brushes. I brought a Joseph Joseph one or something because I quickly break the normal ones, as I scrub very thoroughly. Grin

This is gonna sound wrong but when I joined MN I had a married FWB. I was never as bothered as I should've been about having lovers who had pre-existing relationships. Through MN I got a more accurate idea of how unethical these men are, and of how wrong it is to shag someone else's partner/husband.

JasonMomoasgirlfriend · 17/09/2021 19:58

Parking on the road.

CatAndHisKit · 17/09/2021 20:05

That hoovering and dusting and a floor wipe is not a normal weekly clean Grin

DroopyClematis · 17/09/2021 20:09

@JasonMomoasgirlfriend

Parking on the road.
What? How dare you? Do you actually park on the road in front of your own house??? You do realise that your next door neighbour has visitors? And needs the space , in front of your house!
Yourcatisnotsorry · 17/09/2021 20:24

Most things laundry related 😂 leaving washing out overnight, not washing bras/towels/sheets daily, not ironing sheets, not separating colours. Sometimes feels as though a lot of time travellers from 1950 are here…

Yesitsbess · 17/09/2021 20:41

@Porridgealert

I never realised that when my dh leaves the top of the toothpaste that he's actually emotionally abusing me, probably gaslighting, he has another woman on the side,and he's manipulating me into a breakdown so he can get the house and full custody of the kids. I foolishly just thought he was untidy. MN has educated me.
This finished me Grin
ILoveShula · 17/09/2021 20:44

@Yesitsbess, but she didn't spot that he was a narcissist

Original poster
Antsinyourpanta · 17/09/2021 20:52

Drinking socially/moderately (not in any way excessive) makes you an alcoholic. Anything more than half a Sherry at Christmas makes you a raging drunk.

Yes and you wont be able to take your child to A and E or even coherently explain to anyone what has happened

OP posts:
annacondom · 17/09/2021 21:01

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Homemade cakes at school fairs etc. - anything baked in the oven is fine by me.

Sharing towels with dh - we always have. I’ve never been able to understand how finicky people can be about sharing towels with some you (presumably) have sex with.

I do often wonder how the more hygiene-obsessed MNers ever manage to have sex at all. Do they go over his bits first with Dettol and a Brillo pad?

We each have our own brillo pad - we don't share them.
annacondom · 17/09/2021 21:17

Loads in the US too. It's very sad.

annacondom · 17/09/2021 21:17

Oops, that was about the kill shelters.

LoveFall · 17/09/2021 21:23

Oh yes, the indoor cat thing.

It is considered very foolish and irresponsible where I live to have an outdoor cat.

They kills birds, get hurt themselves, catch diseases like leukemia and do not live as long.

I don't remember the last time I saw a cat outside.

But I do see massive cat towers with toys etc through windows, and often cats lazing in the sun inside.

Mumsnet would class us as exceedingly cruel to cats.