# SoCal schools ban dictionary: hoax?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 25, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407 "2010-01-25T19:40:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/41 "2010-01-27T20:35:53Z")
> [@AngryIrishLass](#):
>
> It was a college level dictionary removed from an elementary school. I don’t see how the school would think it was a good idea to buy it in the first place.
>
> [http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE\_News\_Local\_W\_dictionary23.466f8d4.html](http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_dictionary23.466f8d4.html)
So what? It’s a _dictionary_, a book that lists most of the words in common use. So what if it also has the words “penis”, “vagina”, “orgasm”, and “oral sex”? Why deprive a child of the joys of finding stuff out for themselves because of a handful of words that aren’t obscene except in the minds of a few people who find sex distasteful?
And, for the record, the dictionary in question is the same one I gave my seven-year-old. If he wants to spend time looking up “dirty” words, more power to him.
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/42 "2010-01-27T20:37:44Z")
I always felt pretty grown-up when I looked up things in the Collegiate dictionary when I was in elementary school.
BTW, IIRC, it defined “oral sex” as “cockgobbling and/or cuntmunching”.
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### Author:  [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/43 "2010-01-27T20:40:33Z")
How is this not happening in Texas then?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/44 "2010-01-27T20:42:07Z")
> [@faithfool](#):
>
> How is this not happening in Texas then?
They can’t read?
d&r
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/45 "2010-01-27T20:49:31Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> There once was a book set in a society where the English language had been banned. They used [Newspeak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak), which was English (“Oldspeak”) with all the bad – sorry, ungood – words taken out. I think some South Californians might like the concept.
I’m sorry, that book has been banned. Please report to the principal for re-education.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/46 "2010-01-27T20:58:04Z")
> [@Skammer](#):
>
> I’m sorry, that book has been banned. Please report to the principal for re-education.
Comrade, that book never existed. Saying that the Party “banned” something is doubleplusungood. You need to join me in my re-education.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/47 "2010-01-27T21:34:11Z")
> [@Manduck](#):
>
> I always felt pretty grown-up when I looked up things in the Collegiate dictionary when I was in elementary school.
>
> BTW, IIRC, it defined “oral sex” as “cockgobbling and/or cuntmunching”.
Mine defined “cunnilingus” as “carpet munching”. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to eat a rug.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/48 "2010-01-27T21:44:57Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#):
>
> Mine defined “cunnilingus” as “carpet munching”. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to eat a rug.
Ask your mom.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/49 "2010-01-27T21:51:54Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> Ask your mom.
I did. She told me to ask my dad. 😃
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/50 "2010-01-27T22:24:54Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#):
>
> I did. She told me to ask my dad. 😃
[That’s not what I heard…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11855492&postcount=118)
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### Author:  [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/51 "2010-01-27T22:28:27Z")
Apparently the ban has been repealed, although parents can “opt out” their kids.
> **[School Lifts Ban on Sexy Dictionary](https://www.gawker.com/5458051/school-lifts-ban-on-sexy-dictionary)**
>
> The dictionary that was banned from a California school for having the definitions of sex words in it is back to corrupt our youth. Although parents will have the option of denying their kids access to this filthy smut.
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### Author:  [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/52 "2010-01-27T22:37:57Z")
> [@Katriona](#):
>
> Apparently the ban has been repealed, although parents can “opt out” their kids.
>
> [http://gawker.com/5458051/school-lifts-ban-on-sexy-dictionary](http://gawker.com/5458051/school-lifts-ban-on-sexy-dictionary)
> [@](#):
>
> School Lifts Ban on Sexy Dictionary
“Sexy Dictionary”… I like it! It sounds like smut talk.
“Hey, baby. Be my sexy dictionary. Lexicon me up! Go all Funk & Wagnalls on me!”
.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/53 "2010-01-27T23:14:08Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> [That’s not what I heard…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11855492&postcount=118)
Ha! 😃
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### Author:  [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/54 "2010-01-28T00:03:55Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#):
>
> “Sexy Dictionary”… I like it! It sounds like smut talk.
>
> “Hey, baby. Be my sexy dictionary. Lexicon me up! Go all Funk & Wagnalls on me!”
Well, there’s the “sleeping dictionary!”
[/QUOTE]
A young and naive Englishman, John Truscott (Hugh Dancy), goes to the British colony of Sarawak, Borneo to try and apply his father’s work to the Iban society. He tries to civilize them, building schools and providing education for the Iban people. He is met with unfamiliar local customs. Selima (Jessica Alba) becomes his “sleeping dictionary,” who sleeps with him and teaches him the language and the habits of the locals.
[/QUOTE]
> **[The Sleeping Dictionary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeping_Dictionary)**
>
> The Sleeping Dictionary is a 2003 British-American romantic drama film written and directed by Guy Jenkin and starring Hugh Dancy, Jessica Alba, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, and Bob Hoskins. The film is about a young Englishman who is sent to Sarawak, Malaysia, in the 1930s to become part of the British colonial government. There he encounters some unorthodox local traditions, and finds himself faced with tough decisions of the heart involving a beautiful young local woman who becomes the obje...
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/socal-schools-ban-dictionary-hoax/526407/55 "2010-02-22T00:17:12Z")
> [@Ogre](#):
>
> Removal.
>
> Of the dictionary.
>
> From a school.
>
> I have no words. Just…just…
>
> _sigh_
Well, no wonder you have no words! They removed the dictionary! 🙂
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