to make a light hearted comment at a family dinner ?

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PIL round for dinner. DH burped a the table. Without really thinking, I said "who brought you up then?" To say World War 3 broke out would be putting it mildly.....

Oh please tell us more!

It sounds like there must have been some pre-existing tension there. My PIL would have laughed and denied all knowledge.

oh do tell more!

Yes, there must be more.

Does you mil frequenly pull cat's bum faces/enjoy taking offence/always up for a verbal fight? (mine is, and "family teas" are generally fraught with tension)

Recently dd1 sat on grandma's lap and I heard someone trump. Before Grandma could take offence I said very firmly "dd1, apologise immediately" mil shamefacedly admitted it had been her

Fab!!!!

It was obviously a joke, and should have been taken that way.

oohhh thats made me chuckle.....

oh dear.

Are they the easily offended types then?

Tell us more.

Oh yes, lots of pre-existing tensions and a permanent feeling of walking on eggshells/never being able to say the right thing, but this meal had been going OK.

So what did they say?

My MIL would have made a cheeky comment back along the lines of after leaving home he forget all her training.

Sounds like they left their sense of humour at home - does it happen often?

create ime if a meal is going fairly well at my ils, then that is a big Danger Area. What happens is I relax just ever-so-slightly. Then either dh or I say something really outrageous

e.g. I might mention that my mother visited and had the dcs for a few hours, or I might pull them up gently on an outrageously racist comment that they have read in The Paper and are claiming to be true.

Oh, apparently I was critising their parenting, which no matter how bad I think it was will always be 100 times better than mine. DH, despite his shortcomings will always have far better manners than any child of mine(ours) ....

And naturally your husband defended you?

Oh - sounds like you can say nothing right.

DH tried bless him. His poor manners (really they're not that bad) are due to his time in the Army, which he left to marry me, so aren't his parents glad about that....but really he was on a losing battle.

I'd have found that hysterical!!!

some people just have no sense of humour.

YANBU. Whenever DH does something questionable in front of my ILs, I say 'Well, I blame the parents.' MIL's favoured response is 'You chose to marry him....'

I have a srained relationship with MIL but i'm sure even she wouldn't take offence to that.

They must just love drama!

*Thread jump bit... Poledra I have seen you on a few threads and an sadly excited to find another Eddings fan!