# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/61 "2013-09-26T02:28:04Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > 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. Yes, and ISTM that, one, for enough people as is evident from this thread the pseudo-sexual usage is not obvious or familiar and, two, even for those who know of it, thinking of that connotation as opposed to the connotation “plain boring” is not automatic or preeminent. Had that old lady entered a room I were in and someone said “she’s so vanilla” it would not have elicited a snicker or raised eyebrow from me even though I’m well familiarized with its kink meaning. It’s a vanilla case because it’s straighforward and simple. (BTW in regards to vanilla itself [the product], I happen to side with Diane Ackerman in that it has been unfairly defamed as the archetype of boring mass-appeal blandness – by the food industry having overused processed or imitation-vanilla flavoring – when the Real Thing is exotic and greatly expensive.) Other things mentioned in this thread that would not have fazed me however repeatedly used: “Approach it by the back door” – oh, please, really. Has nobody heard of building in a “backdoor” in the security system for the higher-ups to gain access? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, folks. It’s not oblivious, he means a (figurative) backdoor. “Plushie” – for this one, the sexual-fetish meaning of it is so fringey that there is no “obliviousness” involved in using the term in its straight standard sense. Rather it behooves the people who’d think of the kink to learn to keep a straight face every time it is mentioned in normal context. At least for the rest of this lifetime 😃 I mean, really, people, when someone tells y’all she went to a spa with her sister and they both got facials, is the first thing you think of… nevermind, it probably is :o OTOH: \*Digital Penetration \*- Someone should have brought it up privately by now, c’mon, help the man, he’s in an uncomfortable position! \*Don’t give me [musical] head _- Instructor was probably was doing it on purpose, from the description, to see when the younger ones would crack up… \* Can’t they just take a [data] dump…_ - Perhaps subconscious, but outstanding nonetheless. The system may need an information enema. ---
**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 26, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/62 "2013-09-26T02:28:52Z")
Because I didn’t have time to look it up. I’m not sure how my post offered any less than yours. Every piece of etymology I’ve found says nothing about plain vanilla or just “vanilla” stemming originally from BDSM. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/63 "2013-09-26T14:16:42Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > “Approach it by the back door” – oh, please, really. Has nobody heard of building in a “backdoor” in the security system for the higher-ups to gain access? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, folks. It’s not oblivious, he means a (figurative) backdoor. We’d heard of it, but that’s why it’s juvenile. I think the inadvertent humour of things like this is in direct proportion to the humourlessness of the situation - if it was brought up in a pub during a particularly nerdy IT discussion, it would have merely garnered a “Weyyyy” and a thumbs up. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/64 "2013-09-26T15:35:20Z")
Shall we talk about Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy now? ---
**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/65 "2013-09-26T17:07:44Z")
I have to edit a monthly log file that automates certain processes to run. The name of the log is mnthly\_bjob\_log. I smile everytime 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/66 "2013-09-26T17:16:14Z")
A while ago, I took part in a pub quiz where a particular question was about even-toed and odd-toed ungulates. This sparked some discussion on my team regarding the toes of camels. Only myself and one other person at the table cracked up. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/67 "2013-09-26T20:47:43Z")
I used to work for a small sporting goods chain. We were having a meeting with the purchasing group and shop managers discussing the current supply of tennis racquets. The director then wanted to know “Is everyone getting enough Head?” When everyone froze in shock trying not to react she started calling people out by name. “Mary. Are you getting enough Head? Renee, how about you, are you getting enough Head?” She finally asked “Why isn’t anybody answering me?” The person sitting next to her cupped her hand and whispered in her ear. She turned beet red, put her face down on the table, and started to laugh/cry. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/68 "2013-09-26T22:55:11Z")
I was in the typing class in secretarial school when our old lady instructor was telling us that even, rhythmic stroking was the way to go with typing. She walked around the class saying, “Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!” as we typed and tried desperately to not burst out laughing. I was okay until I heard another muffled giggle. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/69 "2013-09-27T00:05:02Z")
Imagine my surprise in a team meeting when I learned that “glory hole” is a technical term for the spilllway of a dam. I’m surprised I’m still employed. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/70 "2013-09-28T00:55:05Z")
One day, many years ago, I was working with a co-worker and my Colombian boss at a conference. We were very late in putting our materials together, and were furiously working to get all the packets put together and clipped with a binder clip. Eventually, my boss realized that there was no way we were going to get all the packets clipped together before the conference started. So, she says to me in a bit of imperfect English, “Carol, you do not need to put the packets together, just go out there and give everyone the clap!” ---
**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 28, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/71 "2013-09-28T00:57:07Z")
I was at Joann’s with my mom yesterday, looking at holiday craft supplies. She had already bought a lot of stuff for Christmas projects. She saw something tempting, then decided not to buy it, saying “I’ve already shot my wad.” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/72 "2013-09-28T01:24:18Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Second, a presenter referred to a slide today in a large group as “the money slide”. I understood what he meant, but I wonder if he understood the analogy he was using. It’s not an analogy. The term did not originate in pornography. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/73 "2013-09-28T01:24:40Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > “Plushies” can mean “[those who are sexually attracted to stuffed animals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plushophilia).” I really should be surprised that there’s a word for that. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/74 "2013-09-28T14:14:47Z")
I am a middle-aged mom who could certainly be described as ‘vanilla’ but dear God, I have a ridiculous immature streak. I may have told this story here before, but I was once in a meeting of Very Important State Mucky-Mucks and my then-supervisor was presenting a proposal. She had, however, not triple-checked her slides and the very first one described “A Pubic-Private Venture.” Dying. Dyyyyyyyinnnnnng. In my current role I was :dubious: once when our VP of HR was talking about challenging situations as “the high hard ones”. Then I found out there’s some legitimate sports analogy there and I felt stupid for wondering why no one else was trying not to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/75 "2013-09-29T14:40:11Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yes, and ISTM that, one, for enough people as is evident from this thread the pseudo-sexual usage is not obvious or familiar and, two, even for those who know of it, thinking of that connotation as opposed to the connotation “plain boring” is not automatic or preeminent. Had that old lady entered a room I were in and someone said “she’s so vanilla” it would not have elicited a snicker or raised eyebrow from me even though I’m well familiarized with its kink meaning. It’s a vanilla case because it’s straighforward and simple. > > (BTW in regards to vanilla itself [the product], I happen to side with Diane Ackerman in that it has been unfairly defamed as the archetype of boring mass-appeal blandness – by the food industry having overused processed or imitation-vanilla flavoring – when the Real Thing is exotic and greatly expensive.) > Other things mentioned in this thread that would not have fazed me however repeatedly used: > “Approach it by the back door” – oh, please, really. Has nobody heard of building in a “backdoor” in the security system for the higher-ups to gain access? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, folks. It’s not oblivious, he means a (figurative) backdoor. > > “Plushie” – for this one, the sexual-fetish meaning of it is so fringey that there is no “obliviousness” involved in using the term in its straight standard sense. Rather it behooves the people who’d think of the kink to learn to keep a straight face every time it is mentioned in normal context. At least for the rest of this lifetime 😃 > > I mean, really, people, when someone tells y’all she went to a spa with her sister and they both got facials, is the first thing you think of… nevermind, it probably is :o > > OTOH: > \*Digital Penetration \*- Someone should have brought it up privately by now, c’mon, help the man, he’s in an uncomfortable position! > > \*Don’t give me [musical] head _- Instructor was probably was doing it on purpose, from the description, to see when the younger ones would crack up… > \* > Can’t they just take a [data] dump…_ - Perhaps subconscious, but outstanding nonetheless. The system may need an information enema. JRDelirious, I mostly feel the same way as you. I can be highly juvenile / childish in a number of ways; but personally, this kind of stuff rapidly “gets old” for me, as you American folk put it. I blame it partly on a one-time work colleague, with whom I worked for some fifteen years (and he was aged almost 50 when I first met him). This fellow wasn’t a bad guy; but he was highly addicted to finding rude innuendos (no matter how far-fetched) in things that people said; and he was a victim of acute verbal diarrhea – anything which came into his head, had to be instantly announced aloud, to whoever happened to be in his presence at the time. It became, for me, extremely wearisome. Those – and their inner 12-year-olds – who relish this kind of thing – “enjoy”; but a little of it goes a very long way for me. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/76 "2013-09-29T14:45:17Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I was in a meeting with our “internet resources group” when a couple of slides went up talking about our share of a certain business space. The titles on the slides? “Digital Penetration.” I looked around the room and I seemed to be the only one even thinking of reacting. So maybe it’s a common phrase? > > [It reminds me of a couple of years ago when a consultant came in and presented a spiel to us. Near the end he said “here comes the money slide”, and I snorted. Nobody else seemed to find it funny.] I know I’m a bit late in replying to this thread, but I’m thinking that posssibl some of the others found it funny, but didn’t want to show any reaction in a meeting room. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/77 "2013-09-29T14:59:12Z")
Deleted – will try again. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/78 "2013-09-29T15:59:51Z")
Taking another shot – my linking skills are miserable, but if “second try works”, it will save much laborious typing-out character-by-character. To demonstrate that in some ways, my inner 12-year-old is alive and kicking; item recently come upon, on another message board. Involves “vanilla” – discoursed-on, on this thread – and another potentially rude word. [http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/beaver-anal-secretions-used-as-food-flavouring-swedish-food-agency-confirms-story-fneuz8wn-1226719700168](http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/beaver-anal-secretions-used-as-food-flavouring-swedish-food-agency-confirms-story-fneuz8wn-1226719700168) I’d encountered the thing about the gourmet coffee from Indonesia, whose beans supposedly have to be swallowed by, and pass through, a particular kind of civet cat, before being made into the drink; but this about Swedish beavers and vanilla-or-virtually-identical equivalent, totally new to me. I admit to two parellel kinds of cynicism about both these phenomena: feel simultaneously, “people are trolling here” ; and, “these things seem so insane that – in the world which we live in – they’ve pretty well got to be true”. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/79 "2013-09-29T16:17:16Z")
I think that a long time ago on Weird Earl’s, there was a link to a website about Dutch ovens. It took me probably at least a good 5 or 10 minutes to realize that the website was about the cooking appliance and wasn’t a big double entendre. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895/80 "2013-09-29T17:23:35Z")
> [@KSO](#): > > I was in a deposition once with a bunch of lawyers. Consider yourself lucky. I’m in a deposition with a bunch of lawyers much more frequently, and nothing nearly so amusing goes on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-juvenile-or-are-these-people-oblivious-both-is-an-acceptable-option/622895.md?page=5)