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.