# Words that sound dirty but actually aren't **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2016, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739 "2016-01-31T11:14:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/81 "2016-02-03T01:31:45Z")
therapist if the kerning is a little off. Anyone remember typewriters? I had a portable Smith-Corona I inherited from my grandmother with a narrow lowercase r, and an e that listed left just a hair. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/82 "2016-02-03T02:05:06Z")
[Chick sexer](http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/chicken-sexing_n_6822324.html). (Thanks to the _Book of Lists_, which I treasured since it was published around 1980…until this other book by some dude named Cecil Adams came out about seven years later.) ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/83 "2016-02-03T02:44:41Z")
pianist (pronounced PEE-uh-nist) pea country Prego succor ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/84 "2016-02-03T02:49:57Z")
cummerbund ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/85 "2016-02-03T02:52:17Z")
titular Balzac Lake Titicaca Gobbler’s Knob angina Kiek in de Kok Spotted Dick Great Tit (_Parus major_) cock-horse ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/86 "2016-02-03T03:54:15Z")
[Cock-a-leekie soup.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cock-a-leekie_soup) If you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/87 "2016-02-03T03:58:35Z")
shih tzu barometer ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/88 "2016-02-03T17:06:46Z")
[Upsher-Smith](http://www.upsher-smith.com/). My wife and I jokingly insult each other whenever we drive by their headquarters. “Upsher-Smith!” “Oh yeah, well Up-SHER-Smith!” ---
**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:** [February 3, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/89 "2016-02-03T17:56:53Z")
Finicum. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/90 "2016-02-04T15:55:12Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > barometer ?? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/91 "2016-02-04T16:38:22Z")
Just about anything in French (why do you think Gomez liked it so much?). In high school, we decided that the dirtiest term was “changement de vitesse.” gear shift (which I suppose could be used suggestively in English, too ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/92 "2016-02-04T18:04:01Z")
What about “Je suis fatigue”? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/93 "2016-02-04T18:44:52Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Fingering a minor (guitar practice). > > Related: G-string. In the past year I’ve taken up learning the violin and mandolin (same string arrangement) and my wife still snickers whenever I mention plucking or bowing the G-string. Or when I refer to “my instrument.” ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/94 "2016-02-04T19:30:42Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > … and of course, who remembers the name of the mailman on _Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood_? I never watched it. Did you by any chance mean the character played by [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Newell)? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/95 "2016-02-04T20:03:39Z")
> [@Find\_Friends](#): > > I never watched it. Did you by any chance mean the character played by [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Newell)? Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/96 "2016-02-05T04:03:46Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Or when I refer to “my instrument.” At least you’re not playing the organ. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/97 "2016-02-05T05:06:40Z")
Coxsackie virus ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/98 "2016-02-05T05:10:45Z")
Coccyx ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/99 "2016-02-05T06:21:42Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Uvula. > > [Areas.](https://youtu.be/9qmUJpcPAaM) I love that. “I’m getting _urges_ in my _areas_.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-actually-arent/744739/100 "2016-02-05T07:28:00Z")
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