Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» I wonder who the first unhappy person was who called her mother-in-law "Monster-in-law"? Did it come from a movie or real life?
I think it's earlier than films, with jokes about mothers-in-law part of the staple fare of British 19C music-hall comedy.
However, there is a big difference! In English humour it is normally the wife's mother who is the control-freak, and over the husband. It's not heard so much nowadays, but wives themselves are sometime referred to as "SWMBO" (She Who Must Be Obeyed"), "'Er Indoors" or "The Domestic Authorities".
Like a lot of edgy humour, such jokes are probably based on exaggerating and generalising real-life experiences. In fact modern comedians sometime find rich veins of amusing material even in their own off-stage lives, though they are not cruel with it.
The often circuitous route words take from one level of existence to another quite apart from that puzzles me.
When did we begin to call some men dogs? Or chickens? Or rats? Also calling a man a DOG is quite different than calling a woman a dog. Why? I shall have to ask. We laugh at things all the time that may have an underlying tinge of cruelty. Why is that? I don't know if you are familiar with an American comedian named Don Rickles but his schtick was insulting people. They seemed to LOVE it. I found it very offensive and unfunny but well there ya go. He was always insulting famous people like Frank Sinatra who loved it. Strange that! Thank you for your informative reply Durdle and Happy Saturday! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at June 20, 2020 4:21 AM MDT
Durdle 