To find ILs sticking "the" in front of DS's name a bit annoying?

[MaryBerrysBum]

Ever since DS was born my younger BIL decided to use "the" in front of his name when speaking about him. So rather than saying "How's Jack* doing?" He'd ask "How's the Jack doing?"

MIL has picked this up and we've just received our Christmas card addressed to me, DH and the Jack.

This is really starting to irritate me for some reason. AIBU?

*His name isn't Jack but it's similar, trying not to completely out myself in case MIL is a secret mumsnetter.

I think it's quite sweet. We have loads of little nicknames for our tribe. With the best will in the world, perhaps you should loosen up a little.

"our kid"!

I quite like it.
Sorry.
But I do call DS The Boy, in my best Zapp Branigan voice.

My parents call ds 'the boy' - it doesn't bug me. What makes me laugh is the multiple variations of my name from all parts of the in-laws. I can actually feel their awkwardness when cards are handed over as they try and tell whether they've hit upon the right spelling. I think it's my mom's cruel joke on everyone!

If it bugs you though I'd just casually mention it

i call my sons' the boy'
so i would say to dh 'are you going to pick up the boy today'?

Minnie both my grandparents on either side still can't spell my name correctly after almost 27 years!!

We do this-ds2 named ds3 'the baby andanother' and it stuck. He also refers to himself as 'her' though as he has autism and finds words a bit of a puzzle!

I am also guilty of referring to ds as 'the baby'. Yanbu to find it annoying though.

In our family he might get called "the bubster".

See, it could be worse.

Are they foreign? In some languages in Europe you do put "the" before people's names. If they're not, then it's weird.

MIL called DD "the baby" until she was 3 as she didn't like her name It used to seriously annoy me and I used to call her out on it every time (pause, silence, "which baby?", surprised face "ooooh. You mean DD. She is 2, you know" etc. You could try that on the other hand MIL has the skin of an elephant so this sort of interaction used to go way over her head

Hmm, my mum calls DD 'my baby' quickly corrected to 'our baby' when she catches me looking. MIL calls DD 'the small one'. Which DH has picked up. And I refer to DD by her name. I just ignore everyone else.

Fil calls Ds "TOAD!" all the time, complete with exclamation point.

Very annoying.

Send the card back because its obviously for someone else...

Well my mil constantly calls me 'the mother' in context oh look littleanydrink 1 and 2 the mother is here, oh look fil he's all excited because the mother is here. So rude and I used to correct her but I think she got more enjoyment knowing it pissed me off so I ignore it now

YANBU. I had one friend who called her DS "the jobster" - name Joe, which changed into Joby and Jobster then "the" jobster. Another called hers Baby Jonathan until he was at least 2.5 years. All cards sent were signed from Baby Jonathan. It sounded like she was saying Baby Jesus every time to me.

Fine to be slightly irritated. But don't be petty and pick them up on it. If we all told people the things they do that are faintly annoying ,the world would be a pretty miserable place.

I should at least be grateful they use his actual name, some of the are shocking!

As some have said they probably do just think it's a cute nickname and aren't meaning to infuriate me. Am probably going to sound like a bit of a cow if I mention it so am going to go with addressing their card to the MIL and the FIL or similar. Mwaha.

It wouldn't bother me. I can see why it might be a bit annoying but it sounds as though they are using the phrase affectionately. To "confront" your in-laws about it or to send a card with "the" crossed out (or otherwise deliberately and passive aggressively pointing out your annoyance) would be quite hurtful, I would have thought.

Is his name John? "the John"

I still call DD 'the baby' and she's nearly 5
She's still my baby though, I only have one.

meanwhile It's not John!

Yes we have The Boy, The Girls and The Babster (who is now 8). No one gets the correct name in our house. DH's brother is known as Uncle Jimmy, (bearing in mind his name is something like Fred) because of DS's poor pronunciation skills 20 years ago.

Thinking about it, he probably gets a bit cheesed off.

Is the name a noun? Ie is it Robin so "the Robin"?

We all (the world and its dog) called my younger sister "the baby" until she started correcting us when she was 14. She still responds well to the nickname and she is 41.

My ILs also added the "the" before DS' name, I think it is so affectionate that I often use it as well.

it's annoying but not malicious in any way. I'd just ignore them. Just act mildly puzzled when they say it in front of you. Does BL have children?

My guess is 'the Chad' which would be a Charlie's Angels film reference... and probably impossible to stop!