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Strange Strangers

Coal said:
Oddly my m-i-l is the other way around. The son can do no wrong. Two of her grandsons are feckless gits, but are 'lovely' (they really are not).

The daughters, granddaughters (various) work hard, study, have their lives in order. "Eh".

Both her daughters have been affected in their different ways by this persistent attitude(?).
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Yup, that's what I was saying, my late father worshipped the family men and boys and seemed to dismiss and even despise the women and girls.

The whole subject makes me feel angry and resentful. :mad:

Hey everyone, look at me, I'm triggered! :rollingw:
 
escargot said:
Yup, that's what I was saying, my late father worshipped the family men and boys and seemed to dismiss and even despise the women and girls.
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Yes, but it's my mother-in-law who is doing this. The Father-in-law (RIP) was even handed in this respect.
 
escargot said:
Nail on the head there, Catseye. This also reminds me of my late father who had the same habit. He too was controlling and mentally abusive of people close to him.

Well, female people. He was fawningly approving of anything men or boys did.

Example: a niece of mine, his granddaughter, naughtily unscrewed a bathroom mirror and it fell down. Dad was furious and I agreed, until he said 'If a BOY did it, it'd be clever!'
Yes, he actually said that. At that moment I realised a thing or two about him.
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*smacks forehead*
 
I wonder if the 'men can do no wrong' is a generational thing? My mum grew up in a family of three girls and one boy, and the boy was idolised by parent and sisters. Mum favoured my brother over me - various reasons, not just the acquired wisdom that 'boys are better'.

'Man hands on misery to man' indeed.
 
catseye said:
I wonder if the 'men can do no wrong' is a generational thing? My mum grew up in a family of three girls and one boy, and the boy was idolised by parent and sisters. Mum favoured my brother over me - various reasons, not just the acquired wisdom that 'boys are better'.

'Man hands on misery to man' indeed.
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That's more of a 'Northern working class' thing, so I'm led to believe.
Stems from the days when the man was expected to be the sole breadwinner, etc.
 
But we were soundly Southern middle class. I'm in the north now (and so would tend to agree with you), but was born and brought up in the south west to parents who were also southern born, from southern grandparents.
 
catseye said:
But we were soundly Southern middle class. I'm in the north now (and so would tend to agree with you), but was born and brought up in the south west to parents who were also southern born, from southern grandparents.
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Well, I can't explain how that came about, not knowing the circumstances. Maybe just a 'traditionalist' outlook in the family?
 
Mythopoeika said:
Well, I can't explain how that came about, not knowing the circumstances. Maybe just a 'traditionalist' outlook in the family?
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May be a throwback to the generations when girls were merely ornamental, at home until they married (except for the one daughter expected to stay home and care for the elderly), while the boys went out and earned prestige and money, thus raising the family's stock in the neighbourhood?

'Their son's a doctor, you know..'
 
I’m afraid I did it again Thursday night….the wife called me a downright bloody liability, and seeing as I’m not far off my 50th birthday, she’d be right.
It was a half day closing in the office on Thursday afternoon, and I met up with a few old pals just for a few pints - the wife had agreed to pick me up from the station, so I didn’t have to worry about driving.

I don’t remember doing this, but the Wife later told me that I phoned her, and asked if she could be at the station at 21.05, which meant that I must have got on a 20.15 train from London Liverpool St.

I woke up at Clacton on Sea at 00.50, with 2 dozen missed calls and a raging headache, Clacton is the end of the line - I didn’t even check if there was any more trains going back, I staggered straight out of the station and into a Taxi.

I eventually got home at gone 2am, over Hundred pounds out of pocket for the taxi, and a fuming Mrs Turpin.
 
Dick Turpin said:
I’m afraid I did it again Thursday night….the wife called me a downright bloody liability, and seeing as I’m not far off my 50th birthday, she’d be right.
It was a half day closing in the office on Thursday afternoon, and I met up with a few old pals just for a few pints - the wife had agreed to pick me up from the station, so I didn’t have to worry about driving.

I don’t remember doing this, but the Wife later told me that I phoned her, and asked if she could be at the station at 21.05, which meant that I must have got on a 20.15 train from London Liverpool St.

I woke up at Clacton on Sea at 00.50, with 2 dozen missed calls and a raging headache, Clacton is the end of the line - I didn’t even check if there was any more trains going back, I staggered straight out of the station and into a Taxi.

I eventually got home at gone 2am, over Hundred pounds out of pocket for the taxi, and a fuming Mrs Turpin.
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Couldn't you just 'borrow' a stagecoach?
 
Dick Turpin said:
...I met up with a few old pals just for a few pints...

I don’t remember doing this, but the Wife later told me that I phoned her...

I woke up at Clacton on Sea with a raging headache, Clacton is the end of the line...

I eventually got home at gone 2am, over Hundred pounds out of pocket for the taxi, and a fuming Mrs Turpin.
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Legend!

maximus otter
 
catseye said:
I wonder if the 'men can do no wrong' is a generational thing? My mum grew up in a family of three girls and one boy, and the boy was idolised by parent and sisters. Mum favoured my brother over me - various reasons, not just the acquired wisdom that 'boys are better'.

'Man hands on misery to man' indeed.
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My stepfamily are from down South (Bristol, dunno if it's a relevant thing). The stepmother had 3 siblings - 2 girls and 1 boy. (1930s). I'd always assumed, being the only boy, step uncle would have been spoiled. But it turned out that apparently, when he was born, his mum was so scared her husband would find out she'd had a boy - when he wanted another girl - that she dressed him as a girl baby for days maybe even weeks (I was told this story years ago - so forget the details). I guess as men rarely changed babies' nappies in them days it was a while before he discovered the baby was a boy. Apparently he wasn't happy. Go figure.
 
GNC said:
Peter Cushing (horror film star) was brought up as a girl in his early years because his mother didn't want a boy child. It seems to have amused him, looking back.
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The Who had a song about that.
 
Frideswide said:
I'm a boy i'm a boy but my ma won't admit it!
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We had the record when I was a child and I played it often. The line 'If I say I am I get it' means he is punished if he tells anyone, but back then I thought it meant he 'got it' in the sense of mentally reinforcing his own masculinity. Couldn't have expressed it like that, of course.
 
Mythopoeika said:
That's more of a 'Northern working class' thing, so I'm led to believe.
Stems from the days when the man was expected to be the sole breadwinner, etc.
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Whilst the man was usually the breadwinner, the women absolutely ruled the household. Whilst this became something of a joke and resulted in good drama / comedy programmes on the telly, it was usually true.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Except that is not a skirt the boy is wearing. It's a pinny or overall worn over the front to protect his trousers from whatever he was carrying.
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My point was the tone of the posts preceding mine, not the lad’s apparel.

maximus otter
 
escargot said:
There might be a variety of reasons, some more rational, some less, as with many traditions. You can't unravel them all. ;)
People of the time wouldn't question the practice, any more than we'd currently question buying little soccer strips for baby boys and princess dresses for baby girls.
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Or fairy outfits for cats? <shudder>
 
funny-crying-baby-snot-bubble.jpg


maximus otter
 
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