Woman defended over inside joke her boyfriend finds ‘wildly offensive’

Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter

Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

The internet has deemed a woman’s boyfriend “too sensitive” after he expressed his offense over her inside joke with her brother.

In a viral Reddit post shared to the “Am I the A**hole” forum earlier this week, a 21-year-old woman described her boyfriend’s reaction to the long-running inside joke she shares with her older brother. “My brother and I have a silly inside joke that we use all the time. It started when we were in our teens and it’s basically just one of us pointing at the other and saying, ‘Et tu, Brute?’ dramatically when one inconveniences the other,” she explained. “It’s just silly, and it’s devolved into something where even if we use it wrong (in terms of its literary meaning), we know what the other means.”

However, she revealed that her boyfriend, who works in publishing and studied English literature, found the joke offensive to his profession. “He told me that my inside joke is wildly offensive to him because it disrespects his work. I tried to explain to him that I mean nothing by it, and it’s just a silly thing between two siblings that honestly really doesn’t affect him,” the woman wrote. “But still, every time it happens, he gets super upset and has even physically left the room to ‘cool off’ before.”

The woman questioned whether she was in the wrong for keeping the inside joke going, because it makes her feel “close to [her] brother,” despite her boyfriend taking offense to it. But unsurprisingly, thousands of users on Reddit believed the boyfriend was overreacting and found his behaviour to be “pretentious”.

“Your boyfriend needs to either get a sense of humour or get over it. He sounds insufferably pretentious,” read the top comment.

“I’ve got a literature degree. I’ve worked in publishing. I’m a successful author,” another person shared. “Your inside joke is cool as hell. I love it. Your BF needs to chill out.”

“Serious main character syndrome. Literally has NOTHING to do with him. That phrase has been in use for over 500 years!” someone else pointed out, while another user wrote: “Your BF takes himself way too seriously. He sounds exhausting.”

Most recently, another woman was defended on Reddit for refusing to wear a bra when her roommate’s boyfriend sleeps over. In a viral post shared to the “Am I The A**hole” subreddit, the college student explained that her roommate has been bothered by the fact that she doesn’t wear a bra in their home.

“Then she explained that it was about her bf,” the original poster said of her roommate. “I laughed in her face and told her to put a bra on his eyes instead. She got very upset but I told her that I wasn’t interested in her bf. Not in the slightest.”

However, the roommate attempted to tell her that the boyfriend felt uncomfortable and believed that wearing no bra was “invasive”.

“I called her stupid because I was in my home. I wouldn’t go braless in his home and if he chose to go naked in his home, the only right I have is to get the H out of there,” the woman noted.

It didn’t take long for fellow Reddit users to rush to the woman’s defense, claiming that she should be allowed to do what she wants in her own home.

“Pretty obvious. It’s your house, it’s your level of comfort,” one person stated, while another added: “It’s pretty ironic that she said it’s invasive, yet he’s the one coming into your home and wanting you to change the way you live because it makes him uncomfortable.”