# Did you know a scumbag is a condom? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682 "2006-04-07T03:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/1 "2006-04-07T03:49:19Z")
I didn’t. [Slate Magazine article about “scumbag” appearing in the NY Times crossword](http://www.slate.com/id/2139453/) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/2 "2006-04-07T03:57:36Z")
That’s what we called it when I was in high school in the Bronx in the mid-1960s. In fact, it was rarely used to refer to people, only to condoms. Like “schmuck,” I’ve always found it a little jarring to hear it used by people who don’t know what it really means. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/3 "2006-04-07T03:58:32Z")
[I did](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6768438&postcount=3). - (Saran Wrap) (Saran Wrap) After the prom, I ain’t go no scumbag (Saran Wrap) (Saran Wrap) - — The Fugs. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/4 "2006-04-07T04:04:23Z")
A rhyme I recall from high school, c. 1966: _In days of old When knights were bold And scumbags had not been invented They wrapped a leaf Around their beef And babies were prevented._ It was hilarious when I was 15. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/5 "2006-04-07T04:05:26Z")
Yep. Learned it from my tenth-grade English teacher. “I hear you guys using that word a lot, so I’d like to let you know what it really means.” He then wrote “USED CONDOM” on the board in big letters, turned around and gave us all a smug grin. At that moment, the assistant principal came in the room. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/6 "2006-04-07T04:24:25Z")
I’m _amazed_ that Will Shortz didn’t know, because I like to believe that Will Shortz knows _everything_. In the far reaches of the back of my mind I knew, although it might have taken me some time to remember it if it wasn’t stated in the OP, because I recall reading a teen novel from the 1950s (it wasn’t _Red Sky at Morning,_ I don’t think, but it was like that) and being confused at the character’s big reaction to the word at first, and then finally figuring it out from context. Wow, that was a really long sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/7 "2006-04-07T12:16:47Z")
Huh. First I’m hearing about that definition. Makes sense, though. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/8 "2006-04-07T12:35:05Z")
Yeah, I vividly remember this being discussed in _Serpico_. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/9 "2006-04-07T12:37:15Z")
I think I first read it in _The Wanderers._ I also thought it was weird to hear people each other that, since the original definition was obvious to me from context. I don’t remember hearing it used as an insult before the 80s, but that might have been my age. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/10 "2006-04-07T12:44:47Z")
Although I heard the term long before, I didn’t realize the connection between “condom” and “scumbag” until Peter Maas explicitly equated them in his book **serpico**. Sometimes I’m just dense. Guys who insist on using the term “scumbag” might want to reconsider that usage, especially if they want to encourage fellatio. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/11 "2006-04-07T13:42:45Z")
I knew the connection, but I thought the term was much older – like from the '20s. I’m surprised people were using it in the '60s. Of course, I don’t know what they should have been saying instead. “French letter,” maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/12 "2006-04-07T14:12:37Z")
Huh. I had absolutely no idea. My ignorance is hereby fought. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/13 "2006-04-07T14:33:52Z")
> [@brian\_ax](#): > > I didn’t. > > [Slate Magazine article about “scumbag” appearing in the NY Times crossword](http://www.slate.com/id/2139453/) Yes. I have known this from a very early age (pre-teens? early teens?) when I read “Serpico”. In it, a cop (can’t remember if it’s Serpico himself) gets a card while recovering in the hospital from a gunshot. It refers to him as a “scumbag” & I distinctly remember the narrator stating something like “a scumbag is a used condom, and is the worst thing a cop can call another cop”. My mother never restricted my library privileges; had she known exactly what I was reading, she may have reconsidered. 😃 VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/14 "2006-04-07T14:36:28Z")
Hey, \*\*Veuve[/B[, look up three posts! ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/15 "2006-04-07T14:40:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Hey, \*\*Veuve[/B[, look up three posts! I saw them. Thanks. I didn’t know I couldn’t post my experiences, too. Mod - please delete my post - thanks. VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/16 "2006-04-07T14:41:51Z")
Ya don’t have to delete the posts or nothin’ . Some of us just like to be acknowledged when you say the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/17 "2006-04-07T14:50:23Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > I knew the connection, but I thought the term was much older – like from the '20s. I’m surprised people were using it in the '60s. Of course, I don’t know what they should have been saying instead. “French letter,” maybe? The non-vulgar word we used was “rubber,” or, when buying them at the drug store, “prophylactic.” Although the word “condom” was known, it was rarely used, at least where I grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/18 "2006-04-07T14:57:49Z")
I had no idea, although it makes sense now that I think about it. Had no idea it was a word that people might blink at in the crossword. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/19 "2006-04-07T15:07:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Ya don’t have to delete the posts or nothin’ . Some of us just like to be acknowledged when you say the same thing. Luckily **Digital Stimulus** isn’t like that. I just learned in another thread that Whitesnake refers to a penis, so clearly the scumbag things never occurred to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682/20 "2006-04-07T15:09:07Z")
Shouldn’t it be “cumbag”? I can’t believe I am posting this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-a-scumbag-is-a-condom/351682.md?page=2)