# Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket.... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810 "2002-08-07T17:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/1 "2002-08-07T17:59:10Z")
…or are you just happy to see me? Humor like the above statement is pretty common in every day conversation. But when you think about it literally, the statement is quite explicit. But somehow, it seems that no one really gets offended by it. Are there other examples of off-color humor that have made their way into everyday conversation, to the point where they are not even considered offensive by most people? ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/2 "2002-08-07T18:01:40Z")
Take my wife. Please! ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/3 "2002-08-07T18:02:44Z")
Take my ex-wife. Pretty please? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/4 "2002-08-07T18:05:10Z")
Is it cold in here? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/5 "2002-08-07T18:46:49Z")
I don’t know if it is humor, per se, but the expression “I shot my wad on yada yada…” sure wasn’t referring to money initially, yet it is used frequently in everyday conversation… ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/6 "2002-08-07T19:46:56Z")
I don’t know if it is humor, per se, but the expression “I shot my wad on yada yada…” sure wasn’t referring to money initially, yet it is used frequently in everyday conversation… ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/7 "2002-08-07T19:48:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*I don’t know if it is humor, per se, but the expression… \*\* You’re right. What I’m looking for doesn’t have to be humorous. I guess just any off-color remark that’s commonly used works for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/8 "2002-08-07T19:49:41Z")
“Wow, you really got screwed on that one.” ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/9 "2002-08-07T20:12:17Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by WordMan_: > > **I don’t know if it is humor, per se, but the expression “I shot my wad on yada yada…” sure wasn’t referring to money initially, yet it is used frequently in everyday conversation…** You must be just out of puberty to be able to do that twice in the same minute! I hear “SNAFU” quite often. To make the phrase palatable, we like to pretend that F stands for “fouled”. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/10 "2002-08-07T20:33:37Z")
“That really sucks!” My mother refused to use that phrase, but now does. You can rationalize it all you like, but it has a pretty racy origin. And unnecessarily demeaning. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/11 "2002-08-07T22:41:20Z")
> [@](#): > > “That really sucks!” I always figured it was originally a short form of ‘that sucks canal water’. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/12 "2002-08-08T01:37:03Z")
“That bites” is **much** less comfortable than “that sucks”. Trust me on this. ---
**Author:** ![Pelekhaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c67d28/32.png) [@Pelekhaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pelekhaty)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/13 "2002-08-08T14:31:41Z")
“Wow. You really got screwed with your pants on, didn’t you?” ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/14 "2002-08-08T16:08:04Z")
“We’re getting down to the short strokes here…” I’ve heard it on TV and in the boardroom. It doesn’t strike me as having any appropriate connotations. Damn funny though. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/15 "2002-08-08T17:51:44Z")
One of those idiot Carrottop commericals has “How’s it hanging?” A few commercials make quite explicit reference to erections and such now. Used to be commercials were the most conservative parts of TV. They had the most interest in not offending people. Must be considered everyday non-offensive usage now. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/16 "2002-08-08T18:15:42Z")
“That place is the pits.” “Pits” originally came from an expression junkies used when things got so bad they had to shoot up in the armpits. And if you don’t believe me, stick it “where the sun don’t shine”. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/17 "2002-08-08T20:00:04Z")
“We’ve got them by the short hairs.” “SOL” has been sanitized to “sadly outta luck” (or some other variant) when it actually means “shit outta luck.” ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/18 "2002-08-08T22:39:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*I don’t know if it is humor, per se, but the expression “I shot my wad on yada yada…” sure wasn’t referring to money initially, yet it is used frequently in everyday conversation… \*\* Well, what’s so off-color about cannons/black powder rifles? Although I wasn’t able to quickly find a reference to it on-line, the wad is the piece of material used to keep the powder/bullet from falling out of the gun. Given that guns of that period were single shooters, to shoot your wad would mean that the gun was now useless until you reloaded. Guys being guys, the derivation that you’re referring to probably followed almost immediately, but I’m pretty sure the gun sense came first. That being said, you have plausible deniability if you use that expression. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-a-roll-of-quarters-in-your-pocket/122810/19 "2002-08-09T02:32:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Given that guns of that period were single shooters, to shoot your wad would mean that the gun was now useless until you reloaded. Are you saying that after you’ve _shot your wad_ then you’d be _shooting blanks_?