# Have you ever got into trouble because you didn't know what a word meant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397 "2016-04-16T19:46:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/41 "2016-04-20T19:03:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > 3M’s Durex was the dominant brand of adhesive tape in Australia for many years, to the point that “Durex” became a generic term for tape (like Scotchtape to a lesser extent in the US). Durex is also the top-selling condom brand in the UK. This apparently resulted in some confusion for my brother during a visit to Oz, although he would never give me the details. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/42 "2016-04-21T02:52:22Z")
When I was in seventh grade, a fellow student (male) had obviously just learned what a whore was, but like Urbanredneck, he didn’t know how to pronounce it. No one could figure out what he was talking about when he asked “Ever been to a war house?” “What’s a war house?” we asked him. “It’s where the wars live”. It took me a few years to figure out what he was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/43 "2016-04-21T05:52:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > 3M’s Durex was the dominant brand of adhesive tape in Australia for many years, to the point that “Durex” became a generic term for tape (like Scotchtape to a lesser extent in the US). Durex is also the top-selling condom brand in the UK. This apparently resulted in some confusion for my brother during a visit to Oz, although he would never give me the details. I’m from Australia and I commonly see Scotch tape, not Durex tape. Also Durex condoms are very common. In fact they’re my favourite brand. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/44 "2016-04-21T07:21:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > 3M’s Durex was the dominant brand of adhesive tape in Australia for many years, to the point that “Durex” became a generic term for tape (like Scotchtape to a lesser extent in the US). Durex is also the top-selling condom brand in the UK. This apparently resulted in some confusion for my brother during a visit to Oz, although he would never give me the details. This is either a regional thing, or someone was messing with him, or he’s messing with you… or you’re messing with us. 😉 My only association for “Durex” is condoms. Adhesive tape is either sticky tape or, less commonly, sellotape or scotch tape. Maybe there are other parts of Oz that use Durex as a generic word for tape and also aren’t familiar with Durex condoms. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/45 "2016-04-21T09:30:00Z")
I took a road trip with my ex, one cool autumn day. When we stopped and got out of the car, he loudly exclaimed “Gee, it’s quite nippy out here!” We happened to be standing among a group of Japanese people. ---
**Author:** ![CuriousYellow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@CuriousYellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuriousYellow)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/46 "2016-04-21T11:10:12Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I took a road trip with my ex, one cool autumn day. When we stopped and got out of the car, he loudly exclaimed “Gee, it’s quite nippy out here!” We happened to be standing among a group of Japanese people. Thank yourself lucky he didn’t say it’s kamikaze here… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/47 "2016-04-21T14:17:06Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > This is either a regional thing, or someone was messing with him, or he’s messing with you… or you’re messing with us. 😉 My only association for “Durex” is condoms. Adhesive tape is either sticky tape or, less commonly, sellotape or scotch tape. Maybe there are other parts of Oz that use Durex as a generic word for tape and also aren’t familiar with Durex condoms. It’s just an old thing, I think. Apparently the Durex tape brand was discontinued in the 80s so people had stopped using the term by the early 1990s. He was there in 1990 or thereabouts. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/48 "2016-04-21T16:08:58Z")
When I was in grade school - maybe 4th or 5th grade, I was outside with some friends, goofing around, and I called one a “dirty little so-and-so.” A woman passing by looked at me absolutely aghast! :eek: I never said it again, altho I didn’t understand why she was so upset. This would have been in the mid-60s when children were not vulgar at all. 😃 I was embarrassingly old when this one happened - and in the Navy, if you can believe it! I was talking to a guy where I was stationed about our boot camp experiences, and he mentioned being caught in the company commander’s office one night choking the chicken. I asked him where the heck he got a chicken in boot camp. He explained boys were born with them. Yeah, I’d been pretty sheltered. When I was in middle school and looked up “masturbation” in the dictionary, it said simply “self-abuse.” Well, that sounded pretty bad to me - why would you want to hurt yourself??? I’d never heard any of the slang expressions till I was lots older. Yep. Sheltered. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397/49 "2016-04-21T16:32:34Z")
I remember being a pre-teen and having a discussion with my parents and brother about how my uncle couldn’t come visit from Phoenix, and my dad attributing it to his new wife. I don’t know how I knew this phrase but I said “So, he’s pussy whipped huh?” and everyone blew up. I knew that it was the right phrase but I guess I didn’t quite grasp how vulgar it was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-got-into-trouble-because-you-didnt-know-what-a-word-meant/752397.md?page=2)