Englishman, Irishman and a Scotsman...

[Cyril Haearn]

Saw a MiL 'joke' in the cinema, advertising train travel in Germany

'We are glad to bring your mother-in-law to visit. And to take her home afterwards [snigger]'

Is that acceptable? Might one substitute 'father-in-law' or 'parents in-law'?

[661-Pete]

M-i-L jokes?! In my opinion, probably too politically-incorrect for the present day - I wouldn't quote one today except perhaps in a historical context.

So: historical context. It brings to my mind this charming pair of poems: the first a fairly well-known love-poem by Christina Rossetti (sister of Dante Gabriel R), dating from around 1860:

A BIRTHDAY
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

Next, the parody, Anonymous and presumably more recent, although no later than 1950 (the date of the book I've copied from):

AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE
My heart is like one asked to dine,
Whose evening dress is up the spout;
My heart is like a man would be,
Whose raging tooth is half pulled out;
My heart is like a howling swell,
Who boggles on his upper C;
My heart is madder than all these--
My wife's mamma has come to tea.

Raise me a bump upon my crown,
Bang it till green in purple dies;
Feed me on bombs and fulminates,
And turncocks of a medium size.
Work me a suit in crimson apes,
And sky-blue beetles on the spree;
Because the mother of my wife
Has come--and means to stay with me.

Dated, a bit naughty, but rather nice, I think!

[Audax67]

That reminds me of Frank Muir's parody of "It's very clear that love is here to stay": "It's very clear your mother's here to stay".

FWIW I think M-i-L jokes will outlast PC, though it's probably unPC to suggest that PC may have a life less than infinite.

[Cyril Haearn]

The Grauniad reported about hailstones the size of Mint Imperials
Have not read of that unit before, how big and how heavy is a MI?

[fausto copy]

Given the location of this post, I assume there must be a different specification for English, Irish and Scottish mint imperials.

Personally, I'm not that bothered about size, it's more down to quality and I favour Mr. Dobson's (though I don't know what happened to Mr.Barker ).

[Cyril Haearn]

Are Mint Metrics available on San Seriffe?