# Am I juvenile, or are these people oblivious? "Both" is an acceptable option. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895 "2012-05-24T00:10:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/41 "2013-09-25T12:13:43Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > It isn’t that there is anything especially funny about getting a routine, vanilla medical case in the midst of more complex medical situations. What they thought was funny was the use of a term that is frequently used in a sexual situation being applied to a little old lady, and letting their inner 12-year-old boy out, especially since the person making the comment seemed oblivious to the double entendre. The Southpark Effect, if you will. Since you appear to be immune to direct questions, I don’t know how to ask you what double entendre, what sexual meaning. I don’t have a clue and you refuse to explain. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/42 "2013-09-25T12:27:15Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > It isn’t that there is anything especially funny about getting a routine, vanilla medical case in the midst of more complex medical situations. What they thought was funny was the use of a term that is frequently used in a sexual situation being applied to a little old lady, and letting their inner 12-year-old boy out, especially since the person making the comment seemed oblivious to the double entendre. The Southpark Effect, if you will. What is sexual about vanilla? It just means slighly plain and boring, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/43 "2013-09-25T12:32:05Z")
One of my coworkers was excited about her new house. She was talking toanother lady about all the work she had finished on it. Finally she said, “Now I just need to get the guy to come out to trim my bush.” There was a heavy silence as I felt their eyes boring into the back of my head. But I acted oblivious. As the office thanksgiving feast was being set up, one of the secretaries put out an email to the whole building: “Does anyone have a meat thermometer in their pocket I could use?” ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/44 "2013-09-25T12:39:40Z")
Vanilla is widely used in BDSM/kinky circles to describe someone who is not into BDSM. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/45 "2013-09-25T12:41:53Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > What is sexual about vanilla? It just means slighly plain and boring, in my experience. The origin is from the reference to plain, conventional, boring sex. Usually used by people into more kinky stuff to describe conventional sex. The meaning expanded from there. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/46 "2013-09-25T12:54:46Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > First, there’s a department manager who occasionally says that we’re “down to short strokes” on a project. He says it in mixed company…large groups…I think he has no real idea what it means. I always thought this referred to golf. You know, putts. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/47 "2013-09-25T12:58:20Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > The origin is from the reference to plain, conventional, boring sex. Usually used by people into more kinky stuff to describe conventional sex. The meaning expanded from there. The thing is, it isn’t. “Vanilla” has been used to describe conventional boring anything for a long time. Sex is apparently one usage, but also apparently not a major one, given the number of people who don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/48 "2013-09-25T13:22:14Z")
Pfft, looks like you lot need the sage advice of [“Mitchell and Webb”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6bOr5VWo5Y) (slightly NSFW due to dialogue only) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/49 "2013-09-25T14:01:27Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > The thing is, it isn’t. “Vanilla” has been used to describe conventional boring anything for a long time. Sex is apparently one usage, but also apparently not a major one, given the number of people who don’t get it. According to the Online Etymology dictionary, the use of Vanilla meaning plain sex dates from the 1970s. [http://www.sunrisescience.com/pages/ystmedia\_aa\_table.html](http://www.sunrisescience.com/pages/ystmedia_aa_table.html) Plain-vanilla (as a phrase) was introduced earlier, around 1960s, so it’s fair to say they’ve both been around a very long time that someone finding “vanilla” to giggle about because they know of the sexual reference wouldn’t be that uncommon. Vanilla meaning plain sex isn’t so new that it’s meaning is uncommon and strange that someone might find it giggle worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/50 "2013-09-25T14:08:52Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Vanilla meaning plain sex isn’t so new that it’s meaning is uncommon and strange that someone might find it giggle worthy. Specially medical personnel, who apparently think about sex more often than teenagers do… ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/51 "2013-09-25T14:24:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Specially medical personnel, who apparently think about sex more often than teenagers do… Ain’t that the truth… ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/52 "2013-09-25T15:19:02Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Our almost-three-year-old has a Woody toy figure (a character from “Toy Story”) that he calls “Booty,” and my wife and I frequently let out a laugh. > > Not that “Woody” doesn’t have its own juvenile potential… I always thought the moral of Toy Story was never play with your Woody when you have a Buzz. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/53 "2013-09-25T15:34:08Z")
I worked for the “analytics” group at a web startup. The IT guy, who had a sense of humor, set up our group listserve as “[anal@blahblah.com](mailto:anal@blahblah.com)”. He knew exactly what he was doing. Took a while for management to catch on. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/54 "2013-09-25T15:38:44Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I always thought the moral of Toy Story was never play with your Woody when you have a Buzz. [![](http://i.qkme.me/35y39m.jpg) ](http://i.qkme.me/35y39m.jpg) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/55 "2013-09-25T17:04:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Where I’m working, I’ve seen reference to two applications with the acronyms ASS and CUM. I can’t find any way to look them up without setting of the Intranet Prudery Sensor, so I have no idea what they are. When I took over a project from a departing co-worker several years ago, he had a bunch of files with names that began with ‘cumfile’. I realized that in this case, ‘cum’ was short for ‘cumulative,’ but I still snickered a bit. > [@andygirl](#): > > We had a patient come in who was a little old lady with a hip fracture. There wasn’t really anything else wrong with her, and we’d had a rush of very complex patients with multiple diagnoses and co-morbidities. > > One of my co-workers described this lady as being ‘so vanilla’. I lost it. Add me to the list of people who’d have laughed at this one. Or said, “what do you expect - she’s 88 years old, she probably put away her dominatrix gear decades ago!” > [@Wheelz](#): > > I used to work for a company that sourced all manner of commercial tools and products. One day a very nice, older-sounding woman called me looking for a particular type of food-processing knife. > > “I need a six-inch boner.” > > Swear to god. I’d have been the guy saying, “Stop by after work, I’m sure I can help you with that.” > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > At a conference one time the speaker was talking about her co-worker whose first name was “Oral.” She was joking about him and then said “Ahhh, I love Oral.” The opportunity to drop a heartfelt “Don’t. We. All.” into the ensuing silence would have been far more than I could resist. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/56 "2013-09-25T17:18:55Z")
My old employer had several labeling machines. Some of them had an arm that would extend and tamp a label onto a box. Whenever the supervisor of that department discussed those particular machines, he referred to them as tampon machines. Sometimes he would call purchasing to say he needed more tampon labels. Once when I was house hunting, one particular realtor would call to tell me about a new property being available. Some were condominiums. Problem is, instead of saying she had a condo to show me, she would say things like, “I have a condom to show you.” ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/57 "2013-09-25T18:36:43Z")
I had a boss who used to say stuff like this all the time. She had whatever the opposite is of a dirty mind. She just got used to the idea that at some point in one of our meetings I would start laughing uncontrollably for a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Girlundone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Girlundone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlundone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/58 "2013-09-25T22:51:57Z")
The secretary and I crack up over the mailbox slots. “Do you want me to put this in your box?” “Can you check my box?” “Your box is jammed full” ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/59 "2013-09-25T23:01:28Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > The origin is from the reference to plain, conventional, boring sex. Usually used by people into more kinky stuff to describe conventional sex. The meaning expanded from there. I doubt that’s the origin. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/60 "2013-09-25T23:08:23Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I doubt that’s the origin. It’s darn close, as the later post indicate. The term plain-vanilla, to imply boring, came around in 1960 and vanilla, specifically referring to no kinky sex, about 10 years later. So the phrase seemed to evolve from plain-vanilla to vanilla as it was adopted by the BSDM folks. If you have info to add, that’d be great. I’d rather be educated than remain ignorant if I’m wrong. Otherwise, why just post a one-off “I doubt” and not explain your thinking? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895.md?page=4)