To ask about the weird things you only learned from MN?

[Blanchedupetitpois]

It seems like in MN world there are all kinds of rules that I swear I’ve never seen expressed or followed in real life. What have you been most surprised by? I’ll start:

1. Adults don’t celebrate birthdays, and if you expect any recognition of yours, you’re being childish.

1. Halloween is exclusively an American import with no history in this country, and celebrating it is therefore tacky and meaningless.

1. Trick or treating is glorified begging.

1. Absolutely nobody other than you or your DP is remotely interested in your pregnancy, and even telling another person that you’re pregnant is akin to riding a donkey down the high street while calling for palm fronds to be laid at your feet in recognition of the impending miracle of your unborn child.

That it is reasonable to expect your in-laws (usually husband's parents) to arrange a visit in advance. Calling round unannounced to say hello / have a cup of tea is not acceptable.

If a mumsnetter posted her DH had demanded her parents pre book to visit poster's would be up in arms with cries of LTB.

Appreciate there are threads where there are toxic relationships but the whiney posts where in laws are barely tolerated without good reason set my teeth on edge!

Cafe in the Louvre Paris. If you scuttled past the counter before purchasing your coffee and cake the huge entirely bald barista would shout “you! Get back! no food no table” any terrified tourists . It was marvellous to behold.

That 'disingenuous' is the appropriate reply for everything you don't agree with.

This is from a really old thread

One I forgot - grown women actually use the word ‘horrid’. Not girls at Mallory Towers; actual adults in the 21st Century.

CoughLaughFart, every now and again Teens like to bring words like, horrid, odeous etc back into usage.

I love reverting back to using similar words. They are really effective and you can use them around children.

I don't see why you wouldn't tbh.

What is wrong with the word horrid ?

It just sounds so twee.

'twee' (wtf does that even mean?) sounds so stupid. However yes, 'horrid' is a word I never came across until I found this site. Most people say horrible, not horrid. Then again, I see the word 'cross' used a lot on here and I giggle. It sounds so old-fashioned. The last person I knew in real life who said they were 'cross' at something, was my 93 year old grandmother. Even back then people laughed when she said it, because it was something only someone from her generation said.

She also is the only person I ever heard say 'lass' and 'lads' before I came on this site. Everyone else in real life just says ladies, guys, etc. I enjoy this site but a lot of the time the it is like stepping back into a 1940s Enid Blyton book with the words used on here. Very old-fashioned.

Ah well each to their own foibles and idiosyncrasies

My mind boggles about hobbies . No one will ever say what they are as they are “outing “.
I am also amazed that so many MNs talk about doing household admin as a job equal in status to being M.D. of a multi national company.
That so many people are deeply offended when their children are not invited to weddings . Even worse when they are advised to discuss it with the B and G ! No no no! Accept that not everyone wants children running around during the most important day of their lives. And drop the Family Unit crap.
And breathe ...

Yet when kids are invited to weddings you get the inevitable "AIBU to not go to wedding because we have to travel more than 20 mins to get there and that's just too much for poor little Johnnie." And if they have to stay over night wow!

'twee' (wtf does that even mean?) sounds so stupid.

Look it up

You must never, ever criticise a shop assistant, cleaner etc. because ‘It’s a hard job and they don’t get paid much’. Does that mean it’s okay to do it badly?

I remember a thread where a senior manager had had to repeatedly warn a cleaner about walking in on confidential meetings. There were people queuing up to tell her how unreasonable she was for thinking her job was ‘more important’. Someone even suggested both jobs must be equally important or otherwise the cleaner’s job ‘wouldn’t exist’. On that basis the woman who runs the hospital canteen is as important as the neurologists.

Centre parcs = bum sex

Seriously, people don't know the word twee, had never heard horrid before mn and think the word cross is old fashioned? Have I entered some dawn of the new age, I'm only 51 so not old

I'm wondering if salem is in the USA.

I'm pretty sure Salem is in the US. Nobody in the UK would froth over the use of the word "fag".

Nah the worst wedding invites are the polo ones - come to the ceremony and evening, entertain yourself in the middle of nowhere during the big hole in the middle (DH went to one where he had to entertain himself for five hours in a country house hotel. Only they had to leave the premises while the main reception was going on. Nearest built up area was a taxi ride away. Then expected to come back at 8pm for the evening do. I refused to go to that one).

That's dire. Bet they wanted everyone to give them money, too. We got one like this and declined, then got a message, 'Sorry, but we didn't get your gift'. What a cheek!

@Bluelady I am in Australia. But like the US, Canada, NZ, we know not to say 'fag'. We also know not to say the N word. Who knew that people could be decent and learn what is and isn't acceptable to say? Sorry to say the same obviously cannot be said for the UK where it is ok to use out-dated and offensive words.

@WhirlyGigWhirlyGig None of those words are in common usage outside the UK. Horrid I had heard of, but only from Enid Blyton books.
My grandmother (emigrated to Australia from England in her 40s) used cross, and I remember my friends giggling over it, it is a very staid old-fashioned word, as is horrid, which the word horrible has replaced.

Twee seems to be a solely UK saying. There is a whole world outside the UK. I asked several people earlier today, and not one of them have heard of the word 'twee'. All of them said it sounded like a kids made up word. Which I agreed with.

It seems there are many on here who don't understand that the rest of the world don't usually talk as old-fashioned as the UK. Whilst and shall is another example. I like those words. I also love the word shan't. But no one except from posters on this board ever use them any more. You just never hear them, just like you never hear the others. I am not saying you guys or bad or good, just saying that the words you use are not part of the day to day language of other English-speaking nation. That's all.

*I am not saying you guys or.
Or should be are.

@Birdsgottafly "CoughLaughFart, every now and again Teens like to bring words like, horrid, odeous etc back into usage."

Which teens? British teens? Because no teens that I've ever heard speak use those words. Odious is a good word.

But we do use those words in the UK, and I reckon that most users of this site are from there'