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Mother-in-law joke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Humour and jokes about one's mother-in-law (the mother of one's spouse) are a mainstay of comedy. British comedians such as Les Dawson and Jim Davidson used them to great effect, and many television sitcoms have featured stereotypical mothers-in-law (see Everybody Loves Raymond and Married... with Children). The humour is based on the idea that the average mother-in-law often considers her son-in-law to be unsuitable for her daughter (or daughter-in-law unsuitable for her son), and usually includes the stereotype that mothers-in-law are generally overbearing, obnoxious, or unattractive.
There is evidence that this joke dates back to Roman times: Satire VI by Juvenal says that you can't be happy while the mother-in-law is still alive. Most of the mother-in-law jokes are easily translatable to other languages and are easily understandable in most European cultures.