Urban Dictionary

Ever heard of an “invisible husband.” Right away some of you might say, “Yes,I have. I married him. Whenever there’s a dish to be washed, a baby to be changed, or a floor to be vacuumed, my husband becomes invisible.” Well, I understand your frustration, but that really isn’t the definition . . . at least not the definition in the slang dictionary entitled “The Urban Dictionary.” When someone says “invisible husband,” they’re talking about the act of a male spouse remaining perfectly still while also averting his face to avoid attracting attention. It often happens in response to questions like this: “Honey, Do I look fat?” You would say that the husband did not want to acknowledge his wife’s question so he went “invisible husband” to diffuse the situation.

And have you ever heard of “mum act.” That’s when you don’t respond when asked an important question via email or voice mail because you hope the problem will just go away. Someone might say, “My boss is really giving me the mum act about my raise request.”

What about IIB? That’s short for “Ignorance is Bliss.” This might be used in texting when you single ladies write a message like this: “I don’t want to know about his previous girl friends IIB.”

And then there’s my personal favorite: “nonfrontational.” Not confrontational, but nonfrontational. That’s when someone always avoids conflict even when it is needed. You would use it in a sentence like this: “Jack is always so rude and belligerent in the office and the boss is so “nonfrontational” that he never says anything about it.