Council outlaws mother-in-law jokes

A council has banned staff from using mother-in-law jokes after deeming them sexist and disrespectful to “family elders”. Despite surviving from Roman times, the humour no longer considered acceptable, according to officials at the London Borough of Barnet.

The edict was issued in a 12-page booklet entitled Cultural awareness: General Problems which came to light through a Freedom of Information request. It states: “Humour can be incredibly culture-specific, and is very open to misinterpretation or even offense [sic] by other cultures. And don’t forget when you don’t know what people are laughing at, it is very easy to imagine that they are laughing at you.”



The guide adds: “British mother-in-law jokes, as well as offensively sexist in their own right, can also be seen as offensive on the grounds that they disrespect elders or parents.” Barnet, the second largest population of the 33 London boroughs, where women outnumber men by 170,000 to 161,500, had been accused of a “sense of humour by-pass” by writer John Sessions.

Comedians such as Les Dawson and Bob Monkhouse would probably turn in their graves at the restriction on what formed a major part of their acts. The earliest known reference, however, was from the first century AD when Juvenal wrote in Satire VI: “It is impossible to be happy while one’s mother-in-law is still alive.”