Only on Mumsnet...

[SushiSheep]

...have I heard the terms "norks", "tinkly laugh", "naice" bread/ham/area, CF (Cheeky Fucker), LTB (Leave the Bastard) and "get your ducks in a row" (when leaving the bastard!)

What are your 'Only on MN' things?

You have been lucky then.
I was once on a flight from Hong Kong back to the UK. The man sat next to me was a large Dutch man who sat with his legs splayed for the entire flight. I spent the whole flight balancing on my left buttock.

He got off at Amsterdam so the last hour back to Manchester was more comfortable.

My "DH" said this last week 😅

There are some real corkers on here, lots of new to me ones, I've got a 2 hour car journey (passenger!) so will enjoy reading through these.

Oh, can someone explain the MN vipers, or "nest of vipers" please?

The utter rudeness of some ppl
(Who irl would not say a word)
There are some names I see on here and think thankfully I would never have a social interaction with you.
The ppl who "exaggerate" or suggest really dumb things because they find themselves amusing
The weird shit ppl make up in troll threads, if someone you knew behaved like that, you would be concerned for their mental health
Ppl who can't disagree in an adult way and get shouty or throw insults
Mumsnet can either be really supportive or pretty hostile. Very rigid thinking. I have only ever met a handful of ppl like this and wouldn't say they were a friend.

"Mumsnet can either be really supportive or pretty hostile"
And often in the same thread.

One thing that has always baffled me is the never-ending obsession with class, and the sheer frequency of threads on the topic. That is something I rarely encounter in real life (apart from you, distant relative, and you're a raging snob).

@SushiSheep Nest of vipers goes back centuries, and is still used to describe a group of people plotting with ill intent.

I've never come across it anywhere but here. So interesting to read.your comment. Growing up in Scandinavia I guess it had been done by then 😁

It's absolutely common, and used both in real life and other places on the internet.

@2025Y Thank you ... the bat has made my day

I don’t understand the pure vitriol aimed at people who use terminology which is used on other sites innocently, but not ok on MN.

Fine if the op is being an arse, but half the time the whole post turns into an attack on the op rather than actually helping them… oh and the arsey responses just on repeat 10 pages after the op has apologised profusely and the initial person pointing out the major life ending fuck up being treated as a saint

Snapped and farted
(I think it's that..!)

I've used 'snapped and farted' since learning it on Mumsnet.

I was reading that thread 'live' as it were, and didn't find it funny even then.

Yes, probably. I was at university in 1978, and when I first read about it, it really made sense and was quite the encouragement to be assertive. So many women automatically apologised if they couldn't help or be of assistance in some way.
It made a difference to me, because I was brought up in a very traditional, male centric household.

It really isn't. As an artist I use it a lot and is a quote attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt and therefore came into being long before the internet was even thought of.

A thread in active has reminded me, the huge number of threads asking if [age] is too old to have a baby.

Am I unusual in never coming across this in RL, in all my years of having school age children the other mums have been of all ages and its just not a topic of conversation

Agree. It was so obviously made up.

Thanks @slightlydistrac for the vipers explanation.

I must've missed the snapped and farted thread.
Like I missed the deletions on here 😑

Also, only on MN do I laugh at the genius behind some of the usernames.
Yours is great 😂

That apparently everyone reverses onto their driveways… if you don’t you are a terrible driver 🤦‍♀️

(Since noticing this common refrain on MN I’ve paid particular attention to how people park on their own driveways. I would say c90% drive on and reverse off!)

To be fair, I’ve only heard it on here too, despite the provenance.

It annoys me for some reason, not sure why!

I guess it’s a classic example of the type of thing that people think but do not say IRL as they know it would be considered rude and judgmental. Whereas MN is the place where people can feel free to anonymously share all their rude and judgmental thoughts.

The title of that thread is particularly goady too- the question could have been asked in a much less brutal way but it says something that the default approach is to goad.

For that reason I have just decided that after a 20 year relationship with MN and some amazing laughs and support, I am finally done. It’s just too good at making me angry these days and I don’t need that.

@SushiSheep

Nest of vipers was a great thread many many many years ago. A hun from another parenting website came to tell us off and called us a nest of vipers.

This resulted in, if I remember rightly, a huge load of us going to the aforementioned forum and joining up as members.

Think the forum ended up temporarily stopping new users. It was hilarious at the time, one of those you kinda had to be there moments.

Back in the day where this here was all green fields! ;)

When the bat and Terry Wigan pictures caused endless mirth, you didn't change your username every month AND most importantly of all you didn't have to start a thread with "This is lighthearted"!

The amount of times I woke the sleeping baby with shrieks of mirth. The sleeping baby is now 20 years old, and I'm still on here every single fucking day!

@Goldleafcat Annoying? I really think it's a good life lesson. So many people upset because someone has a bigger car, house better holiday when they were actually totally happy with what they had before comparing themselves with others.

I sometimes finish a painting and am really happy and proud with what I've done but then look at someone else's and feel mine could be better and generally deflated.

I think I find it patronising.

Not read the whole thread but my memorable ones are "did you mean to be rude?" and "No is a full sentence ".

Yes, they've been said a few times.