# When did "I never thought this would happen to me..." get linked to Penthouse?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 2, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468 "2007-01-02T21:55:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468/1 "2007-01-02T21:55:01Z")

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I’ve read a lot of stuff, but somehow I’ve never gotten around to reading any letters to _Penthouse_.

When did “I never thought this would happen to me…” become associated with “true life” sexual fantasies written up in the magazine?

The exact wording varies, of course, but the concept was famous enough to inspire at least one [Onion headline](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29699).

Or does the phrase (in the sexual fantasy context) predate _Penthouse_?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468/2 "2007-01-02T22:08:27Z")

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Penthouse has (or had?) a regular feature called _Penthouse Forum_ with “true stories” about sexual encounters that were probably written by the magazine staffers themselves. A common theme is that some everyday loser, through some strange coincidence or circumstance, gets to have sex with a smokin’ hot babe or three. So, “Dear Penthouse Forum, I never thought this would happen to me, but…” became a commonly seen cliche in the magazine.

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**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468/3 "2007-01-02T22:37:38Z")

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Right. What I’m wondering is:

a) When did this first show up in Penthouse?

b) When did it become a cultural meme so well known that the Penthouse connection didn’t have to be spelled out?

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468/4 "2007-01-02T22:44:28Z")

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I can’t say when it happened, but can tell you it was already common in the early 80s when I was in college and we bought a Penthouse magazine every couple of months.

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**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468/5 "2007-01-02T23:12:41Z")

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[QUOTE=friedo]  
Penthouse has (or had?) a regular feature called _Penthouse Forum_ with “true stories” about sexual encounters that were probably written by the magazine staffers themselves.  
[/QUOTE]  
Not to hi-jack, but having been published in a magazine of this sort myself (while not specifically in Penthouse), I believe they are written by readers. The vast majority are probably made up, though. Mine certainly was.

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**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-i-never-thought-this-would-happen-to-me-get-linked-to-penthouse/386468/6 "2007-01-02T23:49:00Z")

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jerrt stahl, in permanent midnight, referred to his days writing “poundcake” for such publications, not that there’s anything wrong with that.