I don't see any way that the statement could ever be justified, even with joking.

And I respect that.

The more excruciating a subject, the less likely I am to be remotely inclined to discuss it, particularly with a stranger. (The whole Oprah spill-your-private-pain-in-public thing is still very much not my cup of tea, even though Britain as a whole is increasingly emulating this particular thing.) So, yeah - talking about something terrible, I would totally keep it at a distance with brittle one-liners.

I can definitely imagine the mother-in-law being a harridan, and this being said out of lack of feeling. But that isn't the only way I can imagine it being said - honestly, it struck me as tragic, rather than cruel. But understatement, and that whole way of dealing with intense emotion elliptically, is VERY much part of the tradition in which I've been raised.

I'm not trying to second-guess how the line was delivered or what the emotion was behind it, because, as stated previously, I wasn't there and I don't know the people. But this:

I don't see any way that the statement could ever be justified, even with joking

is where we differ.

It's entirely possible - likely, even, given the fact that evidently you guys can't imagine having this response yourselves - that she's just an insensitive cow. But I know that I could totally have said something like that, if questioned, and if it were something I found painful.

I think perhaps part of that is because we have fundamentally different understandings of what humour is for, and how we use it? Because this:

I may be inappropriately sardonic, sarcastic, and mean sometimes

is absolutely not what I'm talking about. I think that what the mother-in-law said can be read one of two ways: heartless bitch who doesn't give a shit, or grieving person deflecting a nosy stranger from a subject that is simply too painful to deal with.

Because I do not know the people in question, I'm not going to assume the worst.

(Edited for clarity, and because the YMMV at the end, which was meant as a sort of hands-in-the-air-with-apologetic-shrug kind of punctuation, actually read more like sticking my tongue out. Which wasn't so much the effect I'd been aiming for.)

My take is what if it were her child who had died, and she wanted to be dismissive of her own motherhood, it would be her right, though still incredibly creepy, to say that her own motherhood "didn't take". But to say that about someone else? Sorry, but NO.

(leaving office now, so won't be able to respond right away to any additional postings on this topic)

It's entirely possible - likely, even, given the fact that evidently you guys can't imagine having this response yourselves - that she's just an insensitive cow. But I know that I could totally have said something like that, if questioned, and if it were something I found painful.

This is sort of the standard mode in my family, as well. But we're not far removed from the British Isles. So.

I mean, I think it was at best hugely insensitive, and hurt is hurt no matter the intent, but it is something I could see someone saying out of their own sense of loss. But I also didn't read it as her saying that motherhood didn't take, I read it as saying she'd had a grandchild, but no longer did.

I do not think this reads as being dismissive of her own motherhood or of her daughter-in-law's motherhood. At all. That's kind of my point: that this (can be read as) the polar opposite of that sentiment.

eta Or: what Plei said.

But it looks like we're going to talk in circles here, so I'm bowing out.

I have admitted to myself that I'm not going to get to the grocery store any time soon, so I ordered groceries online. I know the produce will be crap, but at least it's food.

I try to avoid all talk about children except in echoing the happiness of parents. I've never wanted children; I just don't have that visceral desire, and I know I don't "get it". I have such a tendency towards black humor (and saying what I'm thinking without realizing I haven't provided the necessary context), I sort-of live in fear of saying something that would come across as totally heartless.

t scrolls casually into thread.

Zombies on Smallville.

LANA'S PARENTS ARE UNDEAD??

I'm kinda with Fay, I admit, but definitely couldn't see saying that in front of the mom, gawd!!

Sadly, no, but they did manage to make reference to Superman=Jesus "...people can worship you like some kind of modern Jesus."