Though jokes are meant to be funny, not all of them are; especially pranks, which tend to be based on playing with someone’s emotions.
For this redditor, it was her husband whose prank ended up hurting her feelings. Not only that, it led to quite a significant financial loss for the family, too, as her spouse’s jokes resulted in her getting rid of her rings worth roughly $10,000.
Pranks seem to be a controversial topic as they are not equally well-received by everyone
Image credits: LightFieldStudios / Envato (not the actual photo)
This woman’s husband pranked her by saying that he had an affair, neither one was laughing in the end
Image credits: LightFieldStudios / Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Dry_Cellist2768
Some pranks resemble bullying more than anything else
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The husband’s prank based on him having an affair clearly hurt the OP, even if she only believed his confession for a second. That is a likely outcome in many similar scenarios, since, as fellow redditors in the comments pointed out, saying that it was all a joke does not eradicate the damage that has already been done.
A 3-year-long study on pranking and practical jokes found that there is an extremely strong link between a person enjoying planning and executing pranks on people and said people showing no trust in or affection for the jokester.
“People don’t react well to abject cruelty and psychological torture, even if you laugh maniacally immediately afterward and say you ‘got them so good’,” the lead researcher on the study, Dan Margera pointed out. “In fact, the laughter seems to make it worse, if anything.”
With pranks often balancing on the verge of bullying, it’s no surprise that they might not be well-received or even break someone’s trust. The only way for a joke to make relationships stronger instead of damaging them, according to child psychotherapist and spokesperson for the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP), Rachel Melville-Thomas, is to laugh together.
“What we want to do is laugh together – laughing together creates cohesion in social groups,” she told BBC, discussing the trend of cracking an egg on someone’s head. “If you’re the victim of a prank, [for it to be funny], you have to very quickly join in and go ‘Ah, that was such a clever prank’. It’s hard to see how that happens if you smack someone on the head.”
Some people are considered off-limits when it comes to pranks
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While some people love pranking their loved ones all year round, there is one day when your chances of being pranked get x times bigger; that is, of course, April Fools Day. But even then, not everyone is equally amused by practical jokes.
Statistics reveal that when it comes to April Fools Day, people seem to be split more or less evenly into two camps—nearly the same number of them find the pranks annoying, as they do amusing. There are, however, some differences, depending on the age group the person belongs to.
For instance, among those 18 to 24 years of age, the two groups are divided nearly perfectly equally—39% vs 40%, the latter number representing those who find pranks annoying. Among those ages 25 to 34, the difference is more notable, with 52% being amused by practical jokes and only 33% being annoyed by them. Among 34-44 year olds, the majority seem to dislike pranks, resulting in 43% vs 47% on the polls.
People’s views on pranks tend to differ not only depending on their age; another factor to whether or not they would even consider pranking someone is the target themselves. Data from 2015 shows that the majority of people consider bosses, teachers, and children off-limits when it comes to April fools’ jokes, while the most likely targets are siblings, spouses, and best friends.
Needless to say, the OP didn’t find her spouse’s prank to be amusing, nor did the prankster himself when he saw what it resulted in. And while both blamed each other for being the jerk in the situation, fellow redditors didn’t reach a unanimous vote either.
The OP provided more details in the comments
Some netizens didn’t think the woman was a jerk, they put the fault on the husband
Others believed she didn’t have to throw away her rings
There were people who thought everyone was at fault in the situation
