# Words that sound dirty, but really aren't **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958 "2001-10-02T12:12:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/1 "2001-10-02T12:12:15Z")
**Penalize**. Sounds incredibly painful and punitive. **Spermicide**. Sounds like a criminal act, if a relatively minor one. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/2 "2001-10-02T12:24:45Z")
**Member Tools** (in MSN communities) ---
**Author:** ![Skip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Skip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skip)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/3 "2001-10-02T12:43:06Z")
**Masticate** - It’s the scientific word for chewing, as in: _I masticate several hundred times a week!_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/4 "2001-10-02T12:49:39Z")
**Erection**. The satellite was launched and had a good erection. (Target satellites were erected in space for ASAT tests in the 1980s.) ---
**Author:** ![frobozz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@frobozz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frobozz)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/5 "2001-10-02T12:55:14Z")
**Titillate.** Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![Ariadne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@Ariadne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ariadne)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/6 "2001-10-02T12:59:06Z")
Turgid. Or maybe it’s just that I first saw that word in a romance novel and now I can only think of one thing in relation to it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/7 "2001-10-02T13:13:57Z")
**Mukluk** heh heheheh 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rundogrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5daacb/32.png) [@rundogrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rundogrun)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/8 "2001-10-02T13:34:27Z")
[schoolboy snicker] **Woodcock** [/schoolboy snicker] ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/9 "2001-10-02T13:37:59Z")
\*\*Coctail. Cockatiel. Flagellate. Chalupa.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/10 "2001-10-02T13:45:18Z")
Vacillate. Cocksure. Horde Punty ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/11 "2001-10-02T13:47:30Z")
undulate. Paternoster. noshing. prehensile. ---
**Author:** ![reveille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@reveille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reveille)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/12 "2001-10-02T13:54:17Z")
niggardly ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/13 "2001-10-02T13:55:00Z")
my favorite: ballcock (part of a toilet) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/14 "2001-10-02T13:56:05Z")
Does “Holy Flurking Schmidt” count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/15 "2001-10-02T13:57:58Z")
**Formication** - hallucinated sensation that insects (especially ants) are crawling over the skin **Bishopric** - the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop **Hoary** - gray or white with, or as if with, age ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/16 "2001-10-02T14:02:57Z")
**Bridled Titmouse Nuthatch Bahama Swallow** (sounds like a technique) **Hairy Woodpecker Bushtit Sapsuckers Bananaquit Hoary Redpoll Brambling** (sounds like a verb) **Peewee Brown Creeper Brown Thrasher Bulbul Longspur Dickcissel Magnificent Frigatebird Band-rumped Storm-Petrel Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel Brown Booby Red-footed Booby Masked Booby Blue-footed Booby Oldsquaw Smew Clapper Rail American Woodcock Chukar Chachalaca Anna’s Hummingbird** (sounds like ‘anus’) and _ **Turdus migratorius** _ - Latin name for the American Robin ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/17 "2001-10-02T14:03:57Z")
Acerbic Pontificate Colonize Perturbation ---
**Author:** ![milo\_minderbinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/18 "2001-10-02T14:07:12Z")
**Phrygian** - A musical mode (1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7). I may be mispronouncing it, but I’ve always said _frig-e-an_ which has earned me a few weird looks. **Arris** the sharp corner formed by the meeting of two adjacent surfaces of a board. Hear about the \<\\> joiner? Didnt know his arris from his elbow. Boom Boom While checking the spelling off Arris on a woodworking site I also found; **Baller** A tool used to round over the end of a dowel. **Fore Plane** A plane about 18 inches long used to surface or dress rough lumber. **Hot finish** A finish that contains solvents that will attack other finishes. I know this is a little OT but there is a persistant rumour that Glasgow Caledonian University was originally going to be called The **Caledonian University of New Technology** untill someone tried using the acronym… milo ---
**Author:** ![milo\_minderbinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/19 "2001-10-02T14:11:11Z")
**Annus Horribilus** fnar fnar milo ---
**Author:** ![milo\_minderbinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958/20 "2001-10-02T14:17:37Z")
ooh oooh, one more **Fletching** The craft of fixing flights to arrow, ahem, shafts. milo [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-sound-dirty-but-really-arent/84958.md?page=2)