Woman Considering Leaving Boyfriend Of 5 Years Because He Won’t Stop Making Pringles Joke For Over 3 Months Now
Life would be much easier if most things were infinite. Not the crummy ones, like death, disease and destruction, but the good ones, like our time on earth, ice cream, patience and common sense.
The latter two should come in more than one infinity, mind you. Especially when it comes to tolerating your significant other’s jokes that he is pile-driving into the ground faster than heavy machinery.
This Redditor recently went to the Am I The A-Hole? community with that very issue she’s facing: her boyfriend got hooked on using the same one phrase as a punchline for nearly anything he says and he’s been going at it for over 3 months now.
More Info: Reddit
What do you do when a Pringles, or should I say Pwingys, joke goes too far and your whole 5-year relationship is now in jeopardy?
Image source: Mike Dixon (not the actual photo)
So, Reddit user u/yourmumlikes has recently turned to the AITA, or Am I The A-Hole?, community for some perspective on a very annoying matter.
You see, OP went on vacation with her boyfriend to Tenerife. In the lobby of the resort where they were staying, they overheard this British man, quite posh, in fact, and his 12-ish-year-old son looking around the shop there.
At one point, the two were in the potato chips section. The kid seemed very interested in Pringles, so the dad leaned in and, in a weirdly cutesy voice, asked him “Do you want some Pwingys, for the room?”
One Redditor asked the Am I The A-Hole? community if she’s the bad guy for giving her SO the silent treatment because of a relentless joke
Image source: yourmumlikes
OP and her boyfriend found it funny, so of course it became a running gag. But she did not expect it to become a gag that has outrun its course but continued running.
The first few days seemed fine for OP. They kept repeating the phrase to one another, and that became the default way of referring to Pringles.
But, despite the vacation coming to an end, the repetition, however, did not. It continued beyond it, coming to a point where the punchline would pop up every minute sometimes. The boyfriend would sometimes “torment” OP by kicking off a sentence and ending it with the gag.
Turns out, the Pwingys joke has been driven so far into the ground over last the 3 months that it should have melted in the Earth’s core… but it hasn’t
Image source: yourmumlikes
Image source: Don DeBold (not the actual photo)
At the moment of the post on Reddit, the joke has been continuing for over 3 months, and it has not stopped. It has begun to quite literally drive OP insane, despite her pleading with him to stop. But, for him, it seemed like she was playing along, which only further reinforced a vicious cycle.
This was the point where she seemingly lost all hope in ever having a serious conversation. What is worse, this is a 5-year relationship for them. At this stage, he was supposed to the “the one”, a person she’d be willing to spend the rest of her days with, but, after suplexing the joke harder than Brock Lesnar does his enemies, she is not so sure any more.
OP’s current solution, with the obvious talking not working, is to flat-out refuse to talk to him. Until he stops, of course. But given all of this, the lovely folks of r/AITA thought that so far, this is a very reasonable reaction, because they don’t think she’s the bad guy here.
Redditors are of the opinion that OP is not the bad guy as the joke has run its course and should stop, and if it doesn’t, then the joker wins stupid prizes
First of all, that’s not how running jokes and inside jokes work. Second, the joke is deader than the dabbing craze of 2016, and so it’s only natural the boyfriend should stop. If he doesn’t, appropriate actions have to be taken. It’s only natural.
Some shared people they know who do that, and how to put an end to it. Let’s say if talking doesn’t help, try flinging a cup of cold water at them. Or, a personal favorite, cover folks in wet spaghetti. That should do the trick.
But seriously, don’t repeat the same joke. For 3 months. It has to be a bit of a PSA at this point.
The post got some modest attention online, gaining 4,700 upvotes, a handful of Reddit awards, and was covered by a number of online news outlets.
You can check out the post in context here, or check out any of our millions-billions of AITA articles here. But why not also share your annoying boyfriend stories, or ways to combat annoying jokes, in the comment section below!
So this might be a wiiiiiiide stretch... One of my thoughts are, what if this guy was on the spectrum who experienced this incident where they shared a good laugh together as a great bonding moment which he wants to relive over and over again? And by the fact this took place in a holiday setting makes the memory even better. Symptoms aren't always evident.
I was thinking it might be a warning sign of a brain tumor, since it seemed to come out of nowhere.
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NTA - Sounds like OP is at the end of her tether. I know I would be... OP has asked (probably multiple times) for BF to stop and he clearly enjoys pushing boundaries and/or has childish streak which is badly misfiring. The silent treatment is the next stage in the process of attempting to make BF realise that enough is enough... I would suggest that if and when OP breaks their silence, that OP make it abundantly clear that this is damaging the relationship and simply needs to stop... if the BF doesn't get it, then OP needs to reassess the entire relationship and maybe move on.
I like the idea with the spray bottle - every time he repeats this stupid phrase: Splash, right in the face! And if this alone does not cure him quickly enough, add lemon juice to the water...
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The problem here is Once you pop you can't stop :D To be honest I would go bat - poop crazy on him, he sounds as annoying as Peter Griffin singing Bird is the Word over and over again. Maybe she could ask his Mother if he had any baby words for something and she can constantly bring it up in public to get her own back
This reminds me of another Reddit thread where a guy was speaking in baby talk to his partner all the time, even during intimate times, and it was driving her crazy. It didn't make sense. Turned out he was doing it for a bet, to get a signed baseball if he kept it up for a year.
Hey, my now husband of 58 years (a great husband now and Father) in his teens/early twenty's would get on a "word" and beat it to death forever. When I learned to ignore him or just go alone with his idiocy - he eventually stopped. I guess he outgrew it. There's hope young lady!!!
"I'm afraid he's going to pop the question... No, not this one, the 'Pwingys' one!"
It's too bad he killed the joke. When bad wolves did their cover of zombie we heard a little boy in the park singing it and saying "what's in your hair" now any time something falls into our hair, fluff from a sweat shirt, leaves, bird poo one time, we'll sing that and get a laugh out of it, but we don't do it every day
Obviously, the father and son use is a family in-joke where the boy called the pwingys when he was small and it has become a family thing. The boyfriend however sounds like an immature a*****e and needs to be given an ultimatum. Stop saying it or his a*s is dumped. Doing something that he knows is distressing his girlfriend and refusing to stop is a massive red flag.
He is no longer beating a dead horse the horse has decomposed and he is now beating the ground
And here I thought my boyfriend is annoying by using the "pikachu" joke like once a week. I do blame myself for that one though, he loves puns and I told him it thinking it was funny so now he keeps using it since its a pun I like (not anymore but he's a bit slow in those regards).
Maybe he's just immature? My kids do things like that, repeating a word the whole time, imitate eachother, singing a stupid song over and over just to work on eachothers nerves. They think it's funny to stress the other out. Maybe the boyfriend is still childish like that and convinced that his "catchfrase" is really funny? Sometimes writing a letter about your feelings is easier and maybe he will understand that his behaviour is more than annoying. It's up to him.
NTA My husband is divorcing me because I'm mean to him. What he mean is if I don't find his endless repetition of jokes and movie quotes funny anymore. You got clearly cannot read the room and it's quite immature. You need to reevaluate your relationship
Show up at his job dressed as a toddler, ask for your boyfriend, and scream "I want Pwingies!!!" over and over again. Refuse to leave until you are escorted out by security.
NTA I feel your pain...my boyfriend does this on occasion ..he will take a joke and tell it and retell it a million times. He usually stops after I either threaten his life or threaten to run car off road ...s**t gets old man....move the f**k on
I guess it has turned into a hill he's willing to die on. Some people just can't see when they are beating their relationship to death over their *right* to say something. I hope he enjoys being single.
Am I going to be the only one to think she was just looking for a reason to leave...or maybe she should just suck it up? I used to date a guy who would constantly do the "that's what she said" line every time I said something that could be turned sexual. Was it funny at 1st? Yes, Did it get tiresome? Yes, Would I leave him for it? No. We split for other, more logical reasons. But it was something cheesy that made him laugh, especially during a time that we can all use a chuckle. Besides being annoying it wasn't causing any real harm. Also I'm sure there were things I did that were probably annoying but he never complained about. Just saying that a stupid joke, that will eventually fade, shouldn't be the undoing of a relationship if you really loved each other.
She never actually said she was considering leaving him, I think the headline jumped to conclusions a bit. She said she didn't want to be around him since he's been harping on it so constantly and is now refusing to speak to him. Though his insistence on annoying her for his own laughs all day every day for 3 months straight... I don't think it's too far to say that can definitely damage a relationship.
Load More Replies...
So this might be a wiiiiiiide stretch... One of my thoughts are, what if this guy was on the spectrum who experienced this incident where they shared a good laugh together as a great bonding moment which he wants to relive over and over again? And by the fact this took place in a holiday setting makes the memory even better. Symptoms aren't always evident.
I was thinking it might be a warning sign of a brain tumor, since it seemed to come out of nowhere.
Load More Replies... NTA - Sounds like OP is at the end of her tether. I know I would be... OP has asked (probably multiple times) for BF to stop and he clearly enjoys pushing boundaries and/or has childish streak which is badly misfiring. The silent treatment is the next stage in the process of attempting to make BF realise that enough is enough... I would suggest that if and when OP breaks their silence, that OP make it abundantly clear that this is damaging the relationship and simply needs to stop... if the BF doesn't get it, then OP needs to reassess the entire relationship and maybe move on.
I like the idea with the spray bottle - every time he repeats this stupid phrase: Splash, right in the face! And if this alone does not cure him quickly enough, add lemon juice to the water...
Load More Replies... The problem here is Once you pop you can't stop :D To be honest I would go bat - poop crazy on him, he sounds as annoying as Peter Griffin singing Bird is the Word over and over again. Maybe she could ask his Mother if he had any baby words for something and she can constantly bring it up in public to get her own back
This reminds me of another Reddit thread where a guy was speaking in baby talk to his partner all the time, even during intimate times, and it was driving her crazy. It didn't make sense. Turned out he was doing it for a bet, to get a signed baseball if he kept it up for a year.
Hey, my now husband of 58 years (a great husband now and Father) in his teens/early twenty's would get on a "word" and beat it to death forever. When I learned to ignore him or just go alone with his idiocy - he eventually stopped. I guess he outgrew it. There's hope young lady!!!
"I'm afraid he's going to pop the question... No, not this one, the 'Pwingys' one!"
It's too bad he killed the joke. When bad wolves did their cover of zombie we heard a little boy in the park singing it and saying "what's in your hair" now any time something falls into our hair, fluff from a sweat shirt, leaves, bird poo one time, we'll sing that and get a laugh out of it, but we don't do it every day
Obviously, the father and son use is a family in-joke where the boy called the pwingys when he was small and it has become a family thing. The boyfriend however sounds like an immature a*****e and needs to be given an ultimatum. Stop saying it or his a*s is dumped. Doing something that he knows is distressing his girlfriend and refusing to stop is a massive red flag.
He is no longer beating a dead horse the horse has decomposed and he is now beating the ground
And here I thought my boyfriend is annoying by using the "pikachu" joke like once a week. I do blame myself for that one though, he loves puns and I told him it thinking it was funny so now he keeps using it since its a pun I like (not anymore but he's a bit slow in those regards).
Maybe he's just immature? My kids do things like that, repeating a word the whole time, imitate eachother, singing a stupid song over and over just to work on eachothers nerves. They think it's funny to stress the other out. Maybe the boyfriend is still childish like that and convinced that his "catchfrase" is really funny? Sometimes writing a letter about your feelings is easier and maybe he will understand that his behaviour is more than annoying. It's up to him.
NTA My husband is divorcing me because I'm mean to him. What he mean is if I don't find his endless repetition of jokes and movie quotes funny anymore. You got clearly cannot read the room and it's quite immature. You need to reevaluate your relationship
Show up at his job dressed as a toddler, ask for your boyfriend, and scream "I want Pwingies!!!" over and over again. Refuse to leave until you are escorted out by security.
NTA I feel your pain...my boyfriend does this on occasion ..he will take a joke and tell it and retell it a million times. He usually stops after I either threaten his life or threaten to run car off road ...s**t gets old man....move the f**k on
I guess it has turned into a hill he's willing to die on. Some people just can't see when they are beating their relationship to death over their *right* to say something. I hope he enjoys being single.
Am I going to be the only one to think she was just looking for a reason to leave...or maybe she should just suck it up? I used to date a guy who would constantly do the "that's what she said" line every time I said something that could be turned sexual. Was it funny at 1st? Yes, Did it get tiresome? Yes, Would I leave him for it? No. We split for other, more logical reasons. But it was something cheesy that made him laugh, especially during a time that we can all use a chuckle. Besides being annoying it wasn't causing any real harm. Also I'm sure there were things I did that were probably annoying but he never complained about. Just saying that a stupid joke, that will eventually fade, shouldn't be the undoing of a relationship if you really loved each other.
She never actually said she was considering leaving him, I think the headline jumped to conclusions a bit. She said she didn't want to be around him since he's been harping on it so constantly and is now refusing to speak to him. Though his insistence on annoying her for his own laughs all day every day for 3 months straight... I don't think it's too far to say that can definitely damage a relationship.
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