# Clean words that sound dirty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302 "2009-02-17T18:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/1 "2009-02-17T18:56:11Z")
Let’s build a list of words that are clean and legitimate, but if parsed in a certain way, sound dirty. I’ve started with a short list of examples: [ul] [li]Dictator (dick tater)[/li][li]Happiness (penis)[/li][li]Shiitake (shit)[/li][li]Symbolic (ball lick)[/li][/ul] Yeah, yeah, I know it’s juvenile. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/2 "2009-02-17T19:01:24Z")
Magma…cock cheese That’s all I got ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/3 "2009-02-17T19:03:20Z")
I always read shiitake as “shit-cake”. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/4 "2009-02-17T19:07:47Z")
Shi-Tzu Titmouse Ballcock ---
**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/5 "2009-02-17T19:14:44Z")
Masticate ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/6 "2009-02-17T19:55:43Z")
Penal and pianist are the obvious ones. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/7 "2009-02-17T20:01:32Z")
moist ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/8 "2009-02-17T20:01:45Z")
> [@ptr2void](#): > > Masticate “I used to think masturbation meant chewing your food. I don’t think that anymore.” – Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), “Pushing Daisies” My submission: Slartibartfast, the designer of Earth from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Douglas Adams said that he wanted to make a name that sounded obscene, but wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/9 "2009-02-17T20:05:12Z")
Wankel rotary engine. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/10 "2009-02-17T20:06:26Z")
Lake Titicaca. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/11 "2009-02-17T20:10:54Z")
Lickety-split. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/12 "2009-02-17T20:20:43Z")
Invaginate Although I should mention that I do not think vagina is a dirty word, unlike that ungodly aberration: Vijayjay. ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/13 "2009-02-17T20:23:36Z")
Wankel Rotary Engine Vibraphone (with all due respect to Monty Pyton, of course) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/14 "2009-02-17T20:31:27Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Lickety-split. When was living in San Francisco back in the nineties there was a female bike messenger service named that. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/15 "2009-02-17T20:34:35Z")
I always get the giggles when going up a stairwell, I pass the words ‘Wet Riser’. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/16 "2009-02-17T20:35:36Z")
Cock Teets ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/17 "2009-02-17T20:38:16Z")
niggardly ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/18 "2009-02-17T20:39:21Z")
snigger ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/19 "2009-02-17T21:27:30Z")
Beaver. Tit for tat. Yellow breasted sapsucker. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302/20 "2009-02-17T21:34:04Z")
Scrod - It sounds like a venereal disease. yogurt - It sounds like a vomitous onomatopaeia StG [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-words-that-sound-dirty/486302.md?page=2)