# I gave "the boy" a thrill...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 5, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294 "2003-05-05T23:59:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/1 "2003-05-05T23:59:47Z")
Now that I have your attention, I shall explain. “The boy” is how my husband and I refer to our daughter’s boyfriend. Since the two of them started dating (Nov, I think?) he’s tried so hard to do stuff to win our favor. He’s almost puppy-dog-like in his eagerness to please.
So today, I gave him his chance. There’s a willow tree outside our back fence. One particularly heavy branch hung over and leaned against the top of the fence. Because the tree is growing in the conservation easement, I’d need to get permission to remove it, but I can prune it back. I have a chain saw. I have “the boy” champing at the bit to win favor. What more could I want?
He came over after work dressed in grubbies and ready to go. I double-checked that he’d used a chainsaw before, then showed him how ours worked. We discussed how to proceed - which small limbs would be cleared so he could get to the big branch. I turned off the electric fence (no sense zapping him) and after we put on insect repellent, we began.
Ah, the joys of teenage boys with power tools! I was impressed that he was careful - I was afraid he might be a bit reckless. He cut and I cleared. When he finished cutting, he helped me finish clearing. Then I raked, and he put the saw away. All told, 15 minutes.
I sent him to the guest bathroom (he brought clean clothes with him - that surprised me) and I took my dirty self to my shower. The tree is pruned, “the boy” earned points, and I got to start a thread with a suggestive title.
Life is good.
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### Author:  [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/2 "2003-05-06T00:03:44Z")
Can you send him over to my house? I got a couple of trees in serious need of haircuts. 😃
Tell your daughter he may be a ‘keeper.’
P.S. good thread title…
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/3 "2003-05-06T00:28:16Z")
Good job FairyChatMom! I wish my ex’s parents were more like you. I made similar attempts at gaining favor but they just kind of hid from me and blew me off and then complained that I never came around.
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### Author:  [@Pelleas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pelleas)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/4 "2003-05-06T00:30:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The tree is pruned, “the boy” earned points, and I got to start a thread with a suggestive title.
Hey, you can’t ask for more than that.
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### Author:  [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/5 "2003-05-06T00:35:13Z")
You had a tree that needed pruning and a chain saw, and yet you didn’t think to call me.
Sheesh. I’m much more reliable than some teenaged boy who just wants to slobber all over your daughter, and I want to curry favor too.
What do I have to do?
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/6 "2003-05-06T00:38:24Z")
True enough. Exgineer would have settled for a six pack of MGD, whilst “the boy” is now out there somewhere, performing various illegal acts on your innocent child.
Was it all worth it? 😉
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/7 "2003-05-06T00:43:50Z")
**Ex** , you curried lots of favor with your poetry and haiku. But if you ever get the uncontrollable urge to visit Florida and do yardwork, I’ll give you my number. 😃
**Coldfire** , “the boy” and my daughter are in the living room watching TV. He’ll be going home in 15 minutes - it’s a school night after all! And anyway, she can kick his butt and he knows it, so I’m not too concerned about unspeakable acts…
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### Author:  [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/8 "2003-05-06T00:52:09Z")
Look here, buddy. You listen to **Coldie**.
He and I were both teenaged boys at one time, and we know how they think.
You’re thinking, “I got some free labor. He pruned the tree and helped me haul away the dead **wood**.”
Your daughter is thinking, “He’s so sweet, he helped Mom prune the tree and haul away the dead **wood**.”
He’s thinking:
**WOOD**
He’s all excercised and worked up right now. Get him outa’ there.
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### Author:  [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/9 "2003-05-06T01:06:14Z")
Oh yeah, I can’t just let this slide.
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by [bColdfire\*\*
> Exgineer would have settled for a six pack of MGD…
That’s low. On two levels.
I wouldn’t expect beer as payment for showing up to help a friend.
And if I did, I most definitely do not consider bottled cow urine like Miller to be beer.
As if someone who voluntarily drinks Heineken has any business posing as a beer snob.
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### Author:  [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/10 "2003-05-06T01:17:59Z")
You’re talking about a “thrill”. Then you get this boy all worked up with power tools. Then you hit the showers. And that’s it.
And I was feeling all prurient too. (Wait, let me check that… yeah “prurient”.)
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### Author:  [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/11 "2003-05-06T02:51:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Exgineer \*
> \*\*As if someone who voluntarily drinks Heineken has any business posing as a beer snob. \*\*
Now, now, in **Coldie’s** defense, he’s not posing as a beer snob. He’s saying you drink piss beer. Two _completely_ different things. 😃
Oh, and **FCM** , excellent parenting job. Not so much the free labor aspect of it, though that’s good too. No, I’m admiring the subtlety with which you’re telling the boy “we have a chainsaw, and it cuts _real_ good.” 😉
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### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/12 "2003-05-06T02:56:12Z")
I had to do the same kinda thing… mostly moving heavy crap from one side of their little patio to the other until they liked it.
NOT FUN. Give him beer in return…
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/13 "2003-05-06T04:05:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Exgineer \*
> \*\*Look here, buddy. You listen to **Coldie**.
>
> He and I were both teenaged boys at one time, and we know how they think.
>
> You’re thinking, “I got some free labor. He pruned the tree and helped me haul away the dead **wood**.”
>
> Your daughter is thinking, “He’s so sweet, he helped Mom prune the tree and haul away the dead **wood**.”
>
> He’s thinking:
>
> **WOOD**
>
> He’s all excercised and worked up right now. Get him outa’ there. \*\*
Speaking as someone who happened to be a teenaged guy at one point: Oh, yea. All that testosterone is flowing and he’s feeling downright studly.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/14 "2003-05-06T08:19:55Z")
The “boy” got a chance to (successfully) show off with a power tool for his gal’s 'rents.
Doesn’t get much better, **FCM**.
You go girl!
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/15 "2003-05-06T10:16:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by KKBattousai \*
> \*\*No, I’m admiring the subtlety with which you’re telling the boy “we have a chainsaw, and it cuts _real_ good.” 😉 \*\*
There’s a bonus that I hadn’t considered! 😃
**Ex** , you don’t have to worry about me offering you cheap beer. I don’t drink beer, therefore I don’t have any in the house. But I’ll put on my June Cleaver apron and pearls and make you some nice lemonade and cookies…
Wood, huh? I dunno, maybe he’s miswired. When I logged off my computer last night, he was playing computer games on her machine and she was playing “Fur Elise” on her keyboard. Does it get any more wholesome than that?!?
**Rue** , you make it sound so… so… cheap!
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/16 "2003-05-06T12:26:43Z")
Computer games on her machine? This can only end in pain.
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### Author:  [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/17 "2003-05-06T12:30:36Z")
**Exgineer** , skip the cookies. Make her bake a chocolate cake. And see if you can wrangle me an invitation too…
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### Author:  [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/18 "2003-05-06T12:30:56Z")
ROFL! I thought about the chainsaw thing too while reading **FCM’s** OP. I had this picture of **FCM** and “the boy” out in the back yard, with her revving up the chain saw and saying, “See, boy, I know how to use this reeeeeeeeeeal good!”
I, too, have the feeling that “the boy” knows perfectly well that **ThePerfectChild [sup]TM[/sup]** could beat the crap outta him anytime she so desired.
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### Author:  [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/19 "2003-05-06T12:32:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by swampbear \*
> \*\*I, too, have the feeling that “the boy” knows perfectly well that **ThePerfectChild [sup]TM[/sup]** could beat the crap outta him anytime she so desired. \*\*
Makes no difference. He just wants some booty.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-gave-the-boy-a-thrill/173294/20 "2003-05-06T12:36:59Z")
The pain is mine. Sunday, I was shoveling and moving dirt to fill in some doggie-dug holes. Yesterday, I weed-whacked and mowed the yard before “the boy” showed up to play lumberjack.
Did I mention it was over 90-degrees out these last 2 days (and today too) and that the conservation easement behind our house is actually a wetlands area, and it’s kinda soggy and buggy?
Oh yes, the pain is in my shoulders.
Or do you refer to something else, **GMR**? Am I missing a subtle naughtiness? Or are you somehow aware that her computer chair is a torture device that’s been banned by many a Human Rights Commission?
So, then, what other tasks can I lay upon the lad? I have to install a section of fence - dare I trust him with a posthole digger?
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