A woman has been given almost unanimous support for refusing to let her husband's infertile friend name their child.
In a Reddit post, which has over 23,000 likes, user System-Bond1907 explained how her husband, 33, has a best friend, Will, who is infertile. "He got divorced 2 times because of it and because he lied and hid his infertility. And his life hasn't been the same [since] the day he was told he can't have kids."
After allegedly regaling them with numerous gifts, the mother-to-be explained how when she found out the gender of the child, her husband's friend began calling "the baby a random name he picked and was going to give to his baby if he wasn't infertile. He then started begging us to use this name and my husband said it was a 'done deal'."
If the expectant mother anticipated her husband's support she was sorely mistaken as he called her "heartless," and asked her to do "this one small, nice gesture for his struggling friend to give him closure and honor him after all the things he has done for us."
She goes on to say: "I flipped and said it's my baby not his. Will heard this and left immediately. My husband yelled at me saying it's his baby too and my behavior towards Will was abhorrent. He left after him and didn't come back til the morning. He kept saying the same thing and pressuring me to agree on the name but I refused."
The highest-rated comment, with 52,000 likes, by AmIDoingThisRight14 reads: "NTA Is your husband also building his friend an art room in your house?" in reference to a previous Reddit post where a man described how he left his wife when she objected to turning their spare room into an art studio for him, after knowing him for eight months.
Another popular comment left by a user read: "THANK YOU. it will be decorated with marinara flags a plenty" with 13.6 likes. User H2hOe23 replied: "I've finally been on Reddit enough to understand BOTH of these comments and feel very validated," which received over 6,000 likes.
The marinara flag reference relates to the red flag emoji and the "in joke" is a throwback to a reddit post in which an "embarrassed" user described an awkward situation at an Italian restaurant with their sister's boyfriend, Paul, when they decided to explain the names of different pasta sauces.
They explain: "Paul goes on about how the word for red in Italian is marinara, and the word for white is alfredo, so that's how he remembers the sauce names," they wrote.
"I told Paul I took Italian in high school, and it's rosso and bianco," OP continued. "It even says so on the wine menu." Paul then left along with the sister "without paying the bill." The unusual argument prompted one user to comment: "Your sister should be taking Paul's reaction as a huge marinara flag," which got over 70,000 likes and nearly 400 awards on Reddit.
User your-yoghurt commented: "I know this is a joke reference, but honestly op's hubby is being way too pushy about this and i am suspicious there is something going on between these 'friends'."
User softanimalofyourbody wrote: "NTA and since this is AITA I'm assuming your husband is in love with Will and they plan to run off together with your child. please update" with over 19,000 likes.
MiniatureAppendix warned: "Also, make sure every nurse in that hospital when you give birth knows that the birth certificate doesn't get within 10 feet of your husband. NTA."
Newsweek has reached out for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Leonie Helm is a Newsweek Life Reporter and is based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on all things ... Read more
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