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41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing

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As you probably all know, good intentions are those bricks the road to hell is paved with. And how many times has it happened to us that we've paid someone a compliment, a simple witty remark, or tried to make a joke - only to end up with, at best, some awkward silence?
I don't know about you, but I've had this happen more than once, even though I sincerely consider myself a fairly polite and emotional person. So well, many netizens, wanting to please their interlocutors, have also sometimes stumbled with their words...
More info: Reddit

#1

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
I was at a party and a girl asked me to pretend to be her date so another guy would leave her alone. We ended up having a fun time, so we went on a real date a couple days later. After the real date, she said, "you're a great fake boyfriend." She meant it as a joke to play off the fake-date experience, but it was still a terrible thing to hear at the end of a great date. (We've been married for years, and sometimes I call her a great fake-wife).
36points

#2

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
Happens whenever someone new meets my wife. She is better looking than I am. Just kinda objectively true. There almost always is some joking comment about how she is too pretty to be with me, or that I must have some blackmail on her, or that I need to work on myself so she won't leave me (I've had a long unlucky streak with my health that this is usually a reference to). Always said with a smile. Never funny to me.
28points

#3

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
My favorite teacher in middle school was teaching a lesson on WWII and said “Do you guys know what Jews look like? They have dark hair and big noses, like [insert my name]”

I was never self conscious about my nose before that. FYI, I’m not Jewish.
28points

A few days ago, in the AskMen community, the user u/austerbear posed the following question to netizens: "Fellas, what's something a loved one has said to you that was supposed to be funny or playful but actually stung a little?" As of today, the resulting thread has over 9.6K upvotes and around 1.8K various comments, so it will be quite interesting to see what we have there.

By the way, the thread contains stories not only of unfortunate remarks from significant others, but also from friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and even just random folks and kids. As it turns out, people's perceptions of humor, or even compliments, can vary greatly - so please feel free to check out this selection made for you by Bored Panda!

#4

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
This happens all the time. People will ask what I'm doing now that I've graduated high school and I'll say that I'm working on a construction crew. Then they'll say something like "well what do you want to be doing?" or "don't worry, you'll find something better." I just kinda ignore it but it really gets to me. I absolutely love my job but so many other people see it as a low level degrading position. I even got that kind of thing from my mom a few times.
28points

#5

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
My mates once bragged about how they went to a theme park and it was a ‘Craig free day’

I’m Craig.

Kinda funny I guess but it was still a bit... personal.
26points

#6

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
When my nephew guessed my age was 36.

I was 24 at the time.
20points

Let's start with the fact that people have completely different ideas about what is funny (and what is not), what can be considered offensive, and what can genuinely be taken as a compliment. People have different cultural traditions, different temperaments, and, ultimately, different senses of humor.

Finally, people's emotional backgrounds can also vary. Some of us are able to read other people's body language and subconsciously notice the slightest changes in facial expressions - while others have no idea about any of this. Incidentally, with the development of modern technology, these skills are gradually becoming obsolete.

#7

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
Last night actually, at my close friends home he was trying to hook me up with this one girl. She's pretty and really nice, but he said "if it didn't work I understand, you aren't the most attractive one either."
It hit kinda hard since I broke up with my ex I have been questioning my own self-confidence. We did hook up so it felt a bit better, but it sting quite a bit still.

Edit: Ok now this blew up a bit more than I thought it would. I have some uppdate actually, so the girl have asked me to too out with her. And my friend called me today and apologized for what he said yesterday and that he didn't mean it in a bad way. So everything good. :).
19points

#8

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
After I broke up with my ex, best friend told me “I was hoping it would work out, you’re kind of un-datable”. Pretty sure he meant it in jest but it hit deep since the relationship ended because a lot of my personal flaws that I haven’t been able to fix.
19points

#9

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
I was playing board games with some people last week and another Dave was playing with us. This girl jokingly called me the "evil" Dave, and I have no idea why. I even said something along the lines of "how am I the evil one?", but didn't get a response.

Like, it's not even about being compared to one other Dave, but I try to be a good dude overall and when someone calls you evil and doesn't explain why...I just felt hurt inside.
19points

Many researchers attribute the decline in people's emotional intelligence to the ever-increasing amount of time spent communicating on social media and instant messaging apps. Indeed, when you don't need to vary your voice to convey your emotions, when you don't need to "read" your interlocutor's facial expressions, emotional intelligence isn't really necessary.

And the interlocutor's face itself is often just a collection of pixels on a screen. But then, returning to the real world, people retain these communication patterns for real-life interactions, preferring, in fact, online communication.

For example, the authors of this study published back in 2018 claim that only 24% of teenagers surveyed considered people or human relationships as important in life, yet only 2.5% felt that community was important in life. So where, one wonders, would developed emotional intelligence skills come from in such situation?

#10

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
"You're not THAT ugly".
18points

#11

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
My wife is not allowed to comment on my weight. I have always been too fat, lost a bunch over the last years but I'm still ~ 15kg away from my goal. I'm hyper-sensitive about this topic, though, and I can take insults from anybody else in the world by laughing it off but not from her. When she joked around with this a year or so ago, I almost completely lost it. "You're supposed to have my back. If you, of all people, make a joke of this, I can't deal with this anymore.".
18points

#12

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
"I'm not sure I can handle a whole weekend with you"

For context, this was said by my group of friends that I've gone through thick and thin with. Our friendship is one of those where we playfully antagonize each other from time to time. Whether it be poking fun at some new shoes or talking smack about a new job, it's always been for the sake of laughs.

One day we took a trip to the mountains since we rented a cabin and that's the first thing that's said as soon as we got in the car. We all laughed along and started ripping on each other, but dang did it sting a bit.

It didn't ruin the weekend by any means. Still had lots of fun chucking snowballs at my friends and whatnot. But those words hit a little different every time I think of em.
15points

But why do some people say something genuinely funny without offending anyone, while others, especially when trying to imitate them, seem completely weird and awkward? On the one hand, it may be a genuine natural talent and predisposition for humor.

"In addition to being skilled at toying with people's expectations, people who are funnier than most may exhibit qualities such as a willingness to take risks when making jokes and a sensitivity to how their attempts at humor are perceived," this dedicated article at Psychology Today claims reasonably.

Furthermore, experienced stand-up comedians have long since discovered a proven strategy for good humor that doesn't offend anyone. Simply laugh at yourself - and then it's unlikely anyone will take even the most offensive pun personally. At least you know exactly what's offensive to you and what isn't.

#13

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
Anything about my teeth... Couldn't afford braces growing up😔.
15points

#14

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
I asked why my girlfriend wanted to be with me.

She replied that’s she’s afraid of change.

I was hurt a little inside.
14points

#15

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
One of my (former) best friends once recoiled and went, "UGH! GROSS!" when someone asked if we were dating.
13points

Anyway, we're quite confident that reading this collection of stories, if it doesn't do you any favors in terms of developing your emotional intelligence, will at least make your time a tad bit more interesting. So now, please feel free to read this list to the very end, and maybe add your own related tales in the comments below - in case you have something to say of course.

#16

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
My dad got drunk one time and i know he was trying to be endearing but he said


"even though i know your never going to amount to anything, i will always love you"

and here i am at 32 with a s**t job living in his shithole house.
13points

#17

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
I get knocked everytime my girlfriend mentions that despite my success so far in life I am a University drop out. I mean it isnt a big one but everytime it gets brought up it stings a bit...

She works in a school and uses me as an example that you don't have to go to University to do well in life but it's not the kind of thing I like to be lauded for...
13points

#18

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
Friends have been calling me "Egg" for years now, because of my head shape. I'm over it at this point, but this started in the early stages of my depression and it was hard to kick those thoughts at first.
13points

#19

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
I’d had a lot of trouble with toothaches and other dental issues.

At a family gathering we had all ordered Chinese with an assembly of foods to pick as you like. I went to grab a rib, to which one relative piped up, ‘you don’t want to bite into that, not with your bad teeth’.

That happened about 14 years ago and I still feel the upset. Glad to say my teeth were all repaired though and are in fine order! 😃.
13points

#20

41 Things That A Close Person Said As A Joke But Not Everyone Around Was Actually Laughing
Whenever a close friend teases me for being mixed ethnicity. 'Half' this or that. It stings because I have a lot of trauma about it. I was treated differently by my extended family, othered and considered less than. my identity always questioned by people.
13points
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