I am currently 6 months pregnant and very much showing, hard round bulging belly and all. Usually I am in hobo mode and do not care about how I look when I’m out running errands, but yesterday I decided to do my hair and put on a nice maternity outfit to go grocery shopping with my husband.
While checking out an older lady approached me and told me I looked very pretty and was “rocking this pregnancy”. I genuinely thought this was very sweet of her and before I could say anything in response she asked me how far along I was. I took this as an opportunity to joke with her so I turned to my husband and said “pregnant? I know I had a big lunch but do I really look THAT big?”
I proceeded to laugh to show that I was just kidding around but the lady made a face and my husband answered for me and told her I was 6 months. She just said “oh” and walked away with a kinda annoyed expression. I fully intended to thank her but the mood was kind of ruined.
My husband rolled his eyes and asked why I couldn’t just say thank you and accept a nice compliment and leave it at that. He also said that the interaction was embarrassing as it was in front of the cashier and others in line, and then I started to feel bad.
AITAH for my word/joke vomit?
NTA. It was clearly a joke. Like… that’s such a classic pregnancy joke. If she got annoyed, that’s kinda on her. You laughed right after, so it wasn’t mean. Your husband rolling his eyes is more embarrassing than the joke tbh. I’d probably say something like that too just to make it less awkward. It wasn’t that deep
Seriously? You did that to a total stranger who was kind to you?
Another commentator nailed it – “You just thought it was funny to make her think she offended you.”
Next time, just take the compliment.
YTA.
EDIT: added quote from another commentator
You should smile more.
NAH. Girl, you’re just awkward as hell. And there’s nothing wrong with that
Lmfao 💀 I relate to this. 🤣
Sometimes jokes just don’t land and after multiple embarrassing encounters I have learnt that ‘thankyou’ is generally the safest response to a compliment from a stranger.
Soft YTA – many people actually make the mistake of assuming someone else is pregnant and it is very embarrassing for both people. This lady was very nice, paid you a lovely compliment and you, even tho it was a joke, were somewhat rude. Next time a simple thank you would suffice.
Never ever assume someone’s pregnant is the simply solution here. Unless baby is literally crowning I will never mention it until the mother does.
NAH
It honestly was weird reaction to a compliment though. A stranger was being nice to you and she got a lame joke as a reaction.
Meh.
But definitely not AH territory.
NTA unless you know for a fact someone is pregnant you NEVER POINT IT OUT that’s just rude. What if you had a tumor?!? Or some liver disease that caused swelling? Yes you looked cute and she could have just said that.
Yta
I know you meant this as a “joke”, but the humor of this “joke” is premised on the inappropriateness of asking a stranger if they are pregnant. So, your joke is a “funny” way of calling out this woman who tried to compliment you. Now, you laughed right after, so her alarm and possible shame at committing such a faux pas was short lived. But, it was still an asshole thing to do.
To be clear, pregnant women who do find personal questions rude certainly can use humor to make the point such questions are inappropriate without being an asshole. But, you don’t appear to be bothered at all by her question. So, it’s not that you were genuinely taken aback and were gently drawing a line through humor. You just thought it was funny to make her think she offended you. It’s asshole humor, OP. Not super serious, but asshole behavior still
I hate when my attempts at lighthearted humor get misconstrued. Sounds like just an awkward interaction and NAH.
This woman went out of her way to say something kind to you. I wish we encouraged more kindness in our society. When someone is kind to you, please accept that kindness graciously and pass it on to someone else. You will feel good for excepting a kindness and great for passing one on to another person. It will make both of your days.
I’m officially going with NAH
But, while that joke sounds funny to me, I wonder how the delivery was? Because no one else thought it was funny, so it doesn’t sound like it landed. I think for that joke to work you need to follow up with the “just joking” like immediately. And then everyone would laugh. The fact that your husband had the time to jump in and say six months, made it sound like the delivery of that joke wasn’t so great.