I'm white, and my and my partner's families mostly do this in jest or to quickly grab attention because "Meredith!" gets attention in public much faster than "Mom!" does lol I didn't think it was only a white people thing.

Edit: just generalizing, but I think it might be the idea that a black person wouldn't do this under any circumstances? Whereas it's joked somewhat often (at least by my black friends) that white people can get away with more "insubordination" in their families compared to black people. That's my theory but I'd love to hear other perspectives lol

I remember that story and can relate. It took showing my parents the cost of my tuition at a university now and comparing it to when they were 18, then doing the same for the yearly wage of a fast food worker, before they realized that cost inflation has out-paced wage inflation by a crazy amount and no, people can't just sustain themselves through college to get a leg up in society.

It was a break from reality until you mercilessly dragged me back into it lmao

Honestly, the giraffe exploding combined with any absurdist gag is always great. What really kills me in this one is the lion's "Fuck!" and the pure awe and terror in the whole family's eyes. Truly a work of art.

"Observe" is an inside joke with my younger sibling. It's guaranteed to make us burst out laughing as we imagine the "Fuck!" coming from the lions lmao