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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Mumsnet bingo

72 replies

Cactustuesday · 31/01/2026 22:31

Was in a restaurant tonight and heard a table of women laughing at Mumsnet, they were clearly a bit drunk and laughing talking about playing a game of Mumsnet bingo. We couldn't hear the full conversation but the top ones were - leave the bastard, didn't want to read and run, batshit, cheeky fucker.

Do people really read the site as some sort of joke? AIBU to wonder why you bother to read Mumsnet if you think so little of it?

OP posts:
FallingSlower · 31/01/2026 22:44

Some people think it’s a joke. Some people pretend to think it’s a joke but read it all the time. Chloe Hadjimatheou who did the big expose on The Salt Path said she’d got a lot of leads from the citizen sleuthing of Mn, and that she’d completely underestimated it.

YourBreezyBiscuit · 01/02/2026 06:28

Yes I read this site purely for entertainment. The posters here are batshit!

ExtraOnions · 01/02/2026 07:03

Penis Beaker
Russel Group University
“outing” hobby
Six Figure Salary
Strapping Rugby playing Son / Willowy Daughter
Size Tui
French Obsession
Terrible in-laws
A&E now!
Did you mean to be so rude
Toilet Brushes / Poo Particles
Sex Wash
Teacher (never right)
Very Good Looking Husband

Bingo

GarlicBound · 01/02/2026 07:05

They're like catchphrases. We even have the same conversation on here sometimes! Give your head a wobble 😉

DreamingOfGeneHunt · 01/02/2026 07:06

People play Mumsnet Bingo on here all the time.

GarlicBound · 01/02/2026 07:07

<head tilt> <tinkly laugh>

ColinOfficeTrolley · 01/02/2026 07:09

Come on OP, if you've been a regular - especially for years- this would be funny.

PersephoneParlormaid · 01/02/2026 07:13

I think a lot of people on MN really do need to give their head a wobble.

And can I add a rare one, the old Korean lady in the back garden. If you know that one you’ve been here too long!

Jc2001 · 01/02/2026 07:14

Cactustuesday · 31/01/2026 22:31

Was in a restaurant tonight and heard a table of women laughing at Mumsnet, they were clearly a bit drunk and laughing talking about playing a game of Mumsnet bingo. We couldn't hear the full conversation but the top ones were - leave the bastard, didn't want to read and run, batshit, cheeky fucker.

Do people really read the site as some sort of joke? AIBU to wonder why you bother to read Mumsnet if you think so little of it?

I don't think it's a joke at all, but there are a lot of very predictable things that people come out with (you mentioned a few) sometimes without reading the thread. So the idea of Mumsnet bingo is pretty accurate sometimes. The other one is 'death grip' when someone mentions any kind of male sexual problems.

PersephoneParlormaid · 01/02/2026 07:16

Death grip is to do with the porn wanking that every DH is doing, other than the OP’s.

SparklyGlitterballs · 01/02/2026 07:18

Some phrases just come up again and again. As well as those mentioned....

Not your circus, not your monkeys.
Keep your beak out
No is a full sentence

There are many more. I think some people think they're being original when they say them.

Damnloginpopup · 01/02/2026 07:18

PersephoneParlormaid · 01/02/2026 07:13

I think a lot of people on MN really do need to give their head a wobble.

And can I add a rare one, the old Korean lady in the back garden. If you know that one you’ve been here too long!

Edited

I've been here too long 🤣

...and I don't go to centreparcs 😆

Highlighta · 01/02/2026 07:22

I think the Bingo is a form of confirmation bias.

And if you get to point these things out early in the thread, then I think some posters seem to think they are way 'cooler'.

It's just so monotonous though. Anyone with a different thought process thereafter will no doubt get shot down at some point.

Twiglets1 · 01/02/2026 07:23

I would find that funny.

Of course MN has certain well known phrases.

I told my husband & son yesterday about “No is a complete sentence”. They thought that was great.

Highlighta · 01/02/2026 07:24

SparklyGlitterballs · 01/02/2026 07:18

Some phrases just come up again and again. As well as those mentioned....

Not your circus, not your monkeys.
Keep your beak out
No is a full sentence

There are many more. I think some people think they're being original when they say them.

Along with, 'this is not an airport....'

Another favourite is 'the race to the bottom'

So overdone.

InMyOpenOnion · 01/02/2026 07:26

It's an invitation not a summons
Do you normally suffer with anxiety?
Crying and shaking (usually at something utterly trivial)

ZenNudist · 01/02/2026 08:08

If they're laughing and know all these phrases it means they have spent time here so they can't hate it that much.

organisedadmin · 01/02/2026 08:17

I laugh at some of the responses & the fact so many are the same batshit responses.

DeftGoldHedgehog · 01/02/2026 08:19

It is possible to like something and take the piss out of it at the same time.

Squirrelchops1 · 01/02/2026 08:20

Pearl clutching

Boomer55 · 01/02/2026 08:22

The Ick. 🤷‍♀️

Jackiepumpkinhead · 01/02/2026 08:25

They obviously read Mumsnet regularly to have that conversation. Although, to me it is entertainment, to others it may be a lifeline. And that’s OK.

Idleplum · 01/02/2026 08:26

I don’t know how you’ve managed to be offended by that, but MN is a big place. You can be informed, enlightened, influenced, amused, angered, bewildered and more, all in one place.

It’s also no secret that there is a tendency- particularly in AIBU - for people to share quite firm, dramatic opinions. And there’s a tendency to jump straight to some of these opinions. People finding humour in that really isn’t something to get worked up about.

distinctpossibility · 01/02/2026 08:30

I don't think they sound like they were "laughing at", more "laughing with"

I love MN and have learnt so much from here. Both the trivial (rolling a baby vest down to save poo in the hair) to the life-changing (from the Feminism threads and the threads about marriage rights).

I would still talk about MN in this way with friends - partly it signifies that I'm really a MNer, but also because I'd talk about my beloved granny's foibles in a similar way.

MN is a force and I am sure it has saved many women money, time, heartache... or just saved them. 😍

InMyOpenOnion · 01/02/2026 08:30

Oh yes, just thought of another one
Kindly, (followed by something most definitely not remotely kind)