# Sayings you didn't realize were obscene **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507 "2017-09-28T12:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/21 "2017-09-28T16:22:01Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Two of my favorite profanities are “frig” and “bugger”. Most Americans don’t know what they mean, so they think you are using a quaint little euphemism, like “darn” or “heck”. > > Actually, both words refer to specific sexual acts. I know eh, when I was little I thought “frig” was just “not saying fuck” and “bugger” was an annoying person (like when someone bugs you.) Until I was like 10 and reading “Truly Tasteless Jokes” books - learned a lot from those I tell ya. The word “fag” was popular when I was in Grade 3, we had no idea what it was short for or what it meant. My then-boyfriend once called his buddy a “diddler” and nearly got his ass kicked. He thought it just meant “silly person” or something. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/22 "2017-09-28T16:22:25Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I thought “a baby’s arm holding an apple” was just some weird strange thing you could get from life, like a Matador, a Mack truck, an autographed picture of Randy Mantooth and Bob Dylan’s new unlisted phone number. I didn’t know it referred to something obscene-ish. While most will be familiar with the term a baby’s arm holding an apple, I wonder how many folks will get that your post refers to [lyrics](http://www.thetubes.com/lyrics/life.htm) from the song _What Do You Want From Life?_ by the Tubes? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/23 "2017-09-28T16:23:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Shmuck is actually a very bad word if you are a Yiddish speaker. I knew better than to say it as a child-- I’d get punished if I dared. What? It just means jewels… ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/24 "2017-09-28T16:31:03Z")
> [@CrimeThink](#): > > In elementary school I said “Screw you” to another kid in class just joking around and the teacher disciplined me. I did not know at the time that it related in anyway to fornication. > [@Quimby](#): > > I guess technically when you say something “sucks” you are saying it “sucks dick” thus saying it’s “gay” and thus equating “gay” with “bad” which was ubiquitous when I was a kid and is now rightly frowned upon but “sucks” still remains. It’s my opinion that both “screw” and “sucks” are getting less obscene over time. I’ve heard “screwing” in the sense of “messing around” on more than one occasion. And “sucks” seems to fill a hole in the language that no other word can fill nearly as well. A lot of people these days seem to use it in the sense of “that’s a really unlucky thing/situation.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/25 "2017-09-28T16:48:33Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > “Frig” means to use your hand. You can frig yourself (masturbation) or you can frig your partner (giving a hand job). Interesting. According to etymonline, it seems that it first started out as a general euphamism for fucking, and then specifically masturbating: > [@](#): > > frig (v.) > “to move about restlessly,” mid-15c., perhaps a variant of frisk (q.v.). As a euphemism for “to fuck” it dates from 1550s (frigging); from 1670s as “to masturbate.” Related: Frigged; frigging. Looks like we’ve come full circle here in the US. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/26 "2017-09-28T16:55:20Z")
When you’re a kid watching “Monty Python” or “Austin Powers,” certain vile or vulgar British phrases tend to sound quaint, even cute. Imagine a little American kid who puts on a fake British accent and says to a girl, “Fancy a shag, baby?” He thinks he’s saying something harmlessly naughty, NOT something repulsively dirty. But it really means, “Wanna fuck?” To an American kid, “Bleeding wanker” sounds more cute than obscene, even though it’s exactly the same as calling somebody, “a fucking jackoff.” ---
**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:** [September 28, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/27 "2017-09-28T17:04:23Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > “Putz” has been used on TV for so long, and it’s such a funny-sounding word to English-speakers anyway, that it might be a shock to find out it means “dick”. > > “Schmuck” means the same thing, BTW. “Putz” means “dick” but as noted above “schmuck” means jewels, i.e. family jewels. I once used the Yiddish word [Shiksa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiksa) at work in front of my Chassidic boss. He told me never to use it again in the store, and explained its origin. I don’t use it anywhere now. For all you candy eaters, “Oh, fudge” was originally a euphemism for “Oh, fuck.” ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/28 "2017-09-28T17:19:11Z")
When someone’s name won’t come to mind and you say things like “whatshisname” and “whosherface” I used to say “dingleberry” until someone told me it means bits of toilet paper and poo stuck to your anus. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/29 "2017-09-28T17:26:58Z")
> [@Tom\_Terrific](#): > > Has anyone ever heard of " tighter than Dick’s hatband?" Think about it for a moment. I used the expression for many years without any thought about its meaning. I always thought it referred to Richard Cromwell, who spent a short, uncomfortable time as King of England. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/30 "2017-09-28T17:35:16Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > And “sucks” seems to fill a hole in the language that no other word can fill nearly as well. A lot of people these days seem to use it in the sense of “that’s a really unlucky thing/situation.” Yeah, it’s really tragic, unfortunate, sad, and pitiful that no other word in the English language can otherwise convey “that’s a really unlucky thing/situation” as well as ‘sucks’. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/31 "2017-09-28T17:41:38Z")
I’ve heard the same idea conveyed by “That really blows.” Can something such and blow at the same time? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/32 "2017-09-28T17:48:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’ve heard the same idea conveyed by “That really blows.” Can something such and blow at the same time? 😃 [Yes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPPsSeDR_iI) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/33 "2017-09-28T17:58:03Z")
I used to use “blew your wad” and I honestly had never thought about what it might be based on. :smack: Someone said how they hate it so I now refrain from using it. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/34 "2017-09-28T18:02:43Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > While most will be familiar with the term a baby’s arm holding an apple, I wonder how many folks will get that your post refers to [lyrics](http://www.thetubes.com/lyrics/life.htm) from the song _What Do You Want From Life?_ by the Tubes? :smack:Right over my head.😃 I’ve heard of the Tubes but don’t even know what type of music they play. I was wondering out loud what kinda drugs the poster was on and if they were something I could afford:D:cool: ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/35 "2017-09-28T18:03:00Z")
Gangbang. Never had much use for the word before I was employed after college, so I didn’t consider the origins. It’s a commonly used phrase for a media scrum where everyone is jostling for position for a shot or interview. Most of the time we actually try to be considerate of each other up to the point we can maintain our own shot. Still it gets awfully cozy (my lens on a reporter’s head who’s crouching down holding a microphone, right arm against the face of the photog to my right, left arm against the camera of the guy on my left, a still photog climbing up my back to get his shot…) So it’s a gang of people, and we’re all banged up together. Never occurred to me there was any other meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/36 "2017-09-28T18:03:17Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I used to use “blew your wad” and I honestly had never thought about what it might be based on. :smack: As far as I know, the _origin_ of the phrase is fairly innocent, but, yeah… > [@](#): > > To shoot (one’s) wad “do all one can do” is recorded from 1914. The immediate source of the expression probably is the sense of “disk of cloth used to hold powder and shot in place in a gun.” Wad in slang sense of “a load of semen” is attested from 1920s, and the expression now often is felt in this sense. [http://www.dictionary.com/browse/shoot-one-s-wad](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/shoot-one-s-wad) ---
**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:** [September 28, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/37 "2017-09-28T18:12:52Z")
The reverse is best illustrated by [this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/573/why-do-we-call-it-the-bathroom-even-when-it-has-no-tub) column from Unca Cecil. The word “crap” began innocently enough, from the name of Sir Thomas Crapper, inventor of the flush toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/38 "2017-09-28T18:16:30Z")
To call someone a “heel” is short for “shit heel”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/39 "2017-09-28T18:36:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The reverse is best illustrated by [this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/573/why-do-we-call-it-the-bathroom-even-when-it-has-no-tub) column from Unca Cecil. The word “crap” began innocently enough, from the name of Sir Thomas Crapper, inventor of the flush toilet. Not according to Wiki: > [@](#): > > The word crap is actually of Middle English origin and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff).[10] In English, it was used to refer to chaff, and also to weeds or other rubbish. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507/40 "2017-09-28T18:36:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The reverse is best illustrated by [this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/573/why-do-we-call-it-the-bathroom-even-when-it-has-no-tub) column from Unca Cecil. The word “crap” began innocently enough, from the name of Sir Thomas Crapper, inventor of the flush toilet. That’s not exactly what the column says. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > Does this mean that Mr. Crapper’s name is the origin of the word “crap”? Not exactly. There was crap before there was Crapper (you should pardon the language), but big-C Crapper quite possibly gave rise to little-C crapper, meaning “toilet.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-you-didnt-realize-were-obscene/797507.md?page=3)