# “My son is learning four letter words." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314 "2012-08-31T22:27:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314/41 "2012-09-03T11:38:11Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > … Baseball idioms are all over the place in US English. We have the whole “three strikes and you’re out” metaphor, basically meaning that a person can mess up two times, often in terms of behavior, and it’s not too bad, but the third time is when you clamp down on them. We have the “base” system of dating (e.g. “I got to third base with her”), which is an article in itself. You can be “way out in left field”, you can be “in sight of home plate”, you can hit something “out of the park” if you achieve a great success, you can “touch base” with someone, you can play in the “big leagues”, and you can cover all your bases. > > [Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_English-language_idioms_derived_from_baseball) > [@Colibri](#): > > Commonly understood by native speakers of the language. To native speakers of English, the most common meaning of “four-letter-word” is a dirty word. what is your definition of a “native speaker”? am i one? english is not spoken at home. i have never played baseball and it’s not played much, if at all, in my country. despite this i am aware of the baseball idioms mentioned and also what “four-letter words” mean. i believe the reason for this is that baseball idioms are used often in american media, while i can only remember encountering the use of “four-letter word” as a reference to cuss words in songs, and even then it is couched as double entendres. > [@blueslipper](#): > > … But people in country towns may not understand all his Indian English. > One thing he said was “Are there any alphabets in front of the numbers?” He was asking about a reference number that usually has 2 letters in front of it. When I asked him does that mean ‘letters’ when you say ‘alphabets’ he thought I was being facetious. He said everyone knew that usage. you _are_ being facetious. i don’t think anyone can misunderstand him in that context. ---
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314/42 "2012-09-03T17:29:04Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > you _are_ being facetious. i don’t think anyone can misunderstand him in that context. I was trying to point our that some of the Indian English terms he used may not be understood by people in country New South Wales. On another note I do not know why everyone is so bothered by the list of words given to the kids. My impression is that this is a kind of homework. The kids are read to at school, learn some phonics at school etc. The lists of words are given in the same way an adult learning French may be given a list of irregular verbs to learn at home. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314/43 "2012-09-03T20:42:04Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > My kindergarten teacher was shocked to learn I was already literate (age 5 when I started school). I remember telling one of my teachers I was reading books when I was 3 and she coldly told me that was not impressive but normal. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314/44 "2012-09-03T21:59:03Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Define commonly understood. I had spoken English for well over 15 years before I learned it: like four-letter words themselves, the expression “four-letter words” is not something you learn in ESL. Someone from India is highly likely to have grown with English as a second language or as part of a multi-language soup, and to mix words from other languages as readily as someone from southern California drops in Spanish ones - and as unconciously of doing it; their English is not “Hinglish” (some of those expressions you find strange aren’t borrowed from other languages, they’re archaic but unmixed English), but it’s certainly very different from that of other places. Nava, you hit the nail on the head. When we grow up with a slang term like “four-letter words” we tend to take it as a given that all speakers of the same language use the same terms. The more exposed to same-language speakers who are far removed from us, the more we become aware of different slang. My Indian friend and ex-roommate sometimes has to spell English words out for my comprehension simply because our pronounciation was so different. Other times, we have to explain slang terms to the other. I think this is part of the fun of being in a multicultural environment. Language is an adventure. ---
**Author:** ![joh2141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@joh2141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joh2141)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314/45 "2012-09-03T22:58:45Z")
Sounds like a slang to me. I lived in the US for over 15 years and am fluent in English as my primary language… but it IS my 2nd language. I have never heard the “four-letter word” reference to mean “curse words” in my entire time of living in America. I don’t doubt you but just to let you know where your co-worker is coming from. I am from South Korea. As carnut said, language is an adventure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-is-learning-four-letter-words/633314.md?page=2)