# On getting bent... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2001, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206 "2001-02-28T14:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/1 "2001-02-28T14:59:48Z")
…evidently one of the most popular insults on the SDMB, having been used at least 9 times in the past 24 hours alone. Problem is, even though I’ve been familiar with the phrase ever since grade school, to this day I haven’t a clue what it means. So please help me out here. On that inevitable day when some fool demands that I get bent, what should I bend, and by what means? ---
**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:** [February 28, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/2 "2001-02-28T16:16:37Z")
I’ll be happy to show you. But first, see than thing on the floor there behind you? If you could turn around & pick that up for me I would really appreciate it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/3 "2001-02-28T21:24:32Z")
Right. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![BigStar303](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@BigStar303](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigStar303)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/4 "2001-02-28T22:51:07Z")
I know you’ve already got it, but just to make it more official, to bend or bending seems to be a now mostly obsolete term for, um, the sex act. I remember one of Kermit Schaffer’s blooper books deriving much merriment out of some athelete who said he didn’t want his wife to spend her time bending over a hot stove. Such was what passed for sexual humor in the 50s. As I’m sure has occurred to everyone, today’s younger generation uses “it sucks” with abandon, without any clue as to its origins. I find it interesting that it’s ubiquitousness has led to it now being more or less acceptable in everyday speech. ---
**Author:** ![BigStar303](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@BigStar303](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigStar303)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/5 "2001-02-28T22:54:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BigStar303 \* > \*\*I find it interesting that it’s ubiquitousness has led to it now being more or less acceptable in everyday speech. \*\* Acccckkkk! “It sucks” may be acceptable, but “it’s” the way I used it above is not. I should be shot. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/6 "2001-03-01T04:40:09Z")
Actually, J.E. Lighter in _Dictionary of American Slang_ suggest that it meant more along the lines of “Go to Hell.” ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/7 "2001-03-01T04:56:36Z")
Whenever I hear the phrase, I can’t help but picture an erect male member, um, getting bent. A vivid and painful thought… ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/8 "2001-03-01T05:06:41Z")
I know some Aussies that use bent to mean “crooked” like in theif. He’s on the take = He’s bent ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/9 "2001-03-01T13:18:05Z")
Just for a minute there, I assumed this thread was going to discuss decompression sickness. Most scuba divers who have suffered from it call it “the bends”. ---
**Author:** ![Nurlman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Nurlman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nurlman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/10 "2001-03-01T14:02:58Z")
**DVous** , “the bends” is a correct use of the noun (“I got the bends”), but most of the divers and dive guides I know use “bent” as a verb (“I got bent”) more often than they use the nominal form. 60 dives in my logbook-- hardly an authority on such things-- but I did spend a year hanging out with full-time dive guides, so I got an ear for the lingo. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-getting-bent/56206/11 "2001-03-01T14:14:36Z")
British sexual slang: Bent=not straight. Pretty obvious.