Words we thought "actually"meant something else
Posted by helluva_monsoon@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 163 comments
I asked my bf if the kids around him when we were young said that you shouldn't say "dude" because a dude was technically a butt hair. He said no but that where he lived, they said that a dork was actuality a whale penis.
Did you guys hear either of these? If so, where was your general region? And do you have any more tales to tell like this?
TransportationOk657@reddit
Yep, we always heard that "dude" was an "ingrown button hair" where I grew up in MN š
yellaslug@reddit
Yeah, we were told dork was whale dick, never heard that about dude thoughā¦ I still say dudeā¦ multiple times a day, with various inflections, and it means something different each time.
adriatic_sea75@reddit
I was told a dude is bump (like a pimple) on a donkey's ass.
ZombyAnna@reddit
I was told, "dude is the hair on an elephants ass". š¤£
J-Mosc@reddit
I heard this one growing up in NJ
moooghan703@reddit
Same š¤£
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Are you from Wisconsin? Just trying to tie it all together
sickofmakingnames@reddit
Grew up in St Louis MO, I always heard dude was an ingrown butt hair.
Shnarkle13@reddit
Same. Pacific NW here
ezbutneverconvenient@reddit
Same in southern Indiana
yellaslug@reddit
Nope. California, Bay Area. Donāt recall any negative associations with dude, only dork. Well, except for my mom sarcastically using dude in an attempt to get me to stop. Didnāt work. I guess with my dad being from Wyoming the only ādefinitionā of dude we had was cowboy, as in āDude Ranch.ā
Dork definition was supplied by other children, my parents would have been happier if I hadnāt learned of whale penises till I was much older.
one-small-plant@reddit
Also bay area, and I was told dork was just a dick, not specifically a whale dick
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
We grew up with Dude being used on TV all time. Grew up in PNW and Dude is my go to.
When I moved to the bay area someone tried to tell me it was sexist. I assure Dude has always been for every gender identity. My dudes, duuuuuude, DUDE! Dude, listen. DUDE, right?
yellaslug@reddit
My mom always tried to make dudette a thingā¦ didnāt work out well, dude is a generic term for any and all. It is genderless š¤£
blondeviking64@reddit
Im in SoCal and dude was and is everywhere still.Ā
Vagsticles@reddit
I was told a dude was a camels dick!
Appropriate-Host214@reddit
Can confirm this rumour reached Australia
Jets237@reddit
I remember this one, not this random ādudeā slander
Global-Jury8810@reddit
I got called out from my misuse of the word āswarthyā one time. I thought it was synonymous with the word āsuaveā. Instead, a Reddit poster very politely informed me that the word actually āliterally means dark skinnedā is what the Reddit poster said. I donāt recall the username.
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
Geek was a person who bit the heads off chickens. We're only allowed to say Nerd, since Dr. Seuss made it up.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Man that's dark, but there must be more than one way to take the head off a chicken. I didn't think the geeks were up to it though
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
I was raised in a religious cult if that helps!
macroeconprod@reddit
I was told that definition of a geek too. Also spent middle and high school in an evangelical cult. Geeks weren't hip with the jesusfreaks I guess.
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
Then Geek Love became one of my favorite books ever.
We were a "non denominational" Christian cult. Finally broke free in high school. But not even really fully until I was 19/20.
Maleficent-Box4114@reddit
Nobody seems to take me seriously when I say I grew up in a cult under the guise of a ānon-denominationalā church. It took a couple years to undo the brainwashing after I left when I turned 18.
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
I take you seriously! It took a trip to the psych ward to get me fully out of it. Therapy and SSRIs have kept me sane since.
Maleficent-Box4114@reddit
Donāt say therapy too loudly. My mother will hear you and Iāll go straight back to hell haha Iām glad we all got out!
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Oh it totally does! Did you guys harvest chicken, by chance?
HangryHangryHedgie@reddit
We did not, but that gave me a good giggle.
illini02@reddit
You know, this is the only one on this thread that I've heard.
I remember this, but it never gained a lot of traction.
shankthedog@reddit
Thatās true that geeks bite heads off chickens and other things. I vaguely remember that Dr. Seuss made up the word nerd. Thatās pretty cool.
Clem_bloody_Fandango@reddit
Pretty sure she meant in the Circus side show kind of way.Ā Geek was a derogatory term for a shocking circus sideshow act, like people who but the heads off chickens.
drainbead78@reddit
As an adult, I found out that "chode" was a regionalism, where some people used it as a synonym for the taint, and others defined it as a short but girthy dick. It depended pretty much entirely on where you were raised.
SemataryPolka@reddit
Where the fuck did you guys live? LOL. Never heard that shit in my life
Pre-internet regionality was great but also fucking BIZARRE
yinchanvo@reddit
New York, the dork thing was popular.
So was Richard Gere gerbil/hamster talk, and some rock star getting his stomach pumped due to all the semen he swallowed.
cheeker_sutherland@reddit
The rock star was Rod Stewart.
SemataryPolka@reddit
I remember the last two.
But not the dork and definitely not the dude
Poor Richard Gere couldn't get his name cleared before the internet
shankthedog@reddit
This is kind of embarrassing. It was only about six months ago that I had the realization of what sped meant. Only took me 30 years. Pretty speddy of me.
jackfaire@reddit
My mom tried and succeeded at convincing me that Nerd was an Acronym that meant "Never Ending Radical Dude"
shankthedog@reddit
I remember that one. And a jerk was a junior educated rich kid. Not as good as nerd.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
I like it. Too clean to really catch hold though, I suspect. It does make me wonder if FUCK was actually stamped on British marriage certificates to allow fornication under the consent of the king though. That one just popped its head up out of the depths
sparkster777@reddit
I was told it meant Forbiden Use of Carnel Knowledge
hypnofedX@reddit
I heard For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Alternative-Light514@reddit
Bless your heart
shankthedog@reddit
A Jerk was a junior educated rich kid
theeewizzard@reddit
Dude was not just a butt hair where I lived, it was an elephant butt hairš¤£
--Citation-Needed--@reddit
I'm from Texas and we all said it was a six-inch hair on an elephant's butt. I'm not sure why the length was so specific.
MartyFreeze@reddit
I remember someone trying to claim this in high school and everyone roundly ignored them, dude.
MydniteSon@reddit
I heard this one too!
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
This is cracking me up! I guess Minnesota dropped the elephant?
Sit_Ubu_Sit-Good_Dog@reddit
Iām from MN and it was an elephant butt hair where I was too. Metro area.
MNFuturist@reddit
In WI, it was camel's butt hair. I would love to know how all these started!
flismflasm@reddit
Yep, grew up in NJ. It was specifically an elephant's butt hair.
synchronism@reddit
Same.
AtFishCat@reddit
I heard Dude was a pimple on a horses ass.
disdain7@reddit
It really makes the concept of a ādude ranchā take on an entirely different meaning doesnāt it?
WeenyDancer@reddit
I heard elephant butt hair.
How we heard all this bs š
CatsEqualLife@reddit
I heard it as on an elephantās butt.
Starshine2977@reddit
This is what I heard tooā¦and ditto on dork being whale penis
SilentButDanny@reddit
We grew up in the age before the internet, and yet we all knew things collectively as if it went viral online. How is that possible?? š¤Æ (North Texas, btw)
unicorn-beard@reddit
I always heard dude was a hair on an elephant's butt.
Undercover_Dave@reddit
I heard hippopotamus lol
hanktumo@reddit
How would you even see it?
PersonalityAlive6475@reddit
Internet rule #34.
wait_ichangedmymind@reddit
Cowās ass according to my Midwest family
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
It's like all the tribes rose up to make dude into something. Something gross
Dazzling_Line_8482@reddit
This was it for me too. Might have been a donkey instead of a horsen. PNW.
LegitimatePapaya9807@reddit
I heard Camel dick lol
Mysterious-Name-6016@reddit
Me too š¤£
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
I feel like these were somehow related, like one came from the other, and yours is even more hilarious
Thamnophis660@reddit
We thought "dildo" was another slang for dick and my friends and I loved to say it.Ā
elphaba00@reddit
I guess my sister-in-law won a stuffed turtle at a birthday party and she decided to name it Dildo because she loved the LOTR cartoon and Bilbo. But she didn't want to copy that exactly? My husband said his dad couldn't keep it in. He was laughing and explaining she needed another name without really going into the reasoning.
MegaRadCoolDad@reddit
Small dildo energy
Alternative-Light514@reddit
Like āowww, he kicked me in the dildo!ā? š
Thamnophis660@reddit
Yeah or "don't be such a dildo" or "I bet you got a small dildo!"
Alternative-Light514@reddit
Weād call people dildo, but it was if they were being a dumbass.
I just imagine some older teens or adults overhearing yall in like a food court or some shit and losing it like ādid that kid just tell his friend to stop itching his dildo in public and the friend said Iām not, itās my nuts??ā Iād be in tears, but also so confused
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
I don't remember what I thought it was, but pretty sure this word was used before I knew what one is
DismalIngenuity4604@reddit
Inverse example: I had NO idea what "bugger" actually meant until my mum told me to stop using it and I asked "Why?" and she just went red and told me to stop again.
Context: I'm an Aussie, it's legitimately one of the most commonly used "swear" words here.
elphaba00@reddit
Along with the "see you next Tuesday" swear word? Or is that just Brits?
DismalIngenuity4604@reddit
Oh, and I was pretty confused when "Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" changed to "Catch a tigger by the toe" until I though about it for like a quarter of a second and went "Ohhhh.... oohhhhhh, oh. Oops"
THExIMPLIKATION@reddit
I was in New Orleans and we would say a dude was a hair on an elephant's butt.
Midian1369@reddit
A twit was supposed to be a pregnant goldfish. From my aunt in the mountains of N.C.
PhantoWolf@reddit
I looked Dude up as a kid and it said it was 'a man that cared too much about his appearance'- Similar to fop or dandy.
madsci@reddit
"Dude ranch" seems to be the most enduring usage in that sense. A place where city guys go to play cowboy.
MartyFreeze@reddit
Oh man, I never knew that. I could see that being hilarious to locals when out-of-towners were there to experience the culture.
Ginger_Snaps_Back@reddit
wishuponareddwarf@reddit
Iām from England, we used āpillockā as an insult meaning idiot. I got told it meant pregnant fish. Fish donāt get pregnant though I donāt think, I think they just lay eggs?
bookofgray@reddit
West Coast. CA. I say dude yeah nah bro like every day, and Iām 48
Redeyebandit87@reddit
A Dork is a whale penis
WhereItsAt75@reddit
Where I lived dude was an infected butt hair. But only when I was in 6th grade. Lol
ThreeIfByBike@reddit
Never heard the dork one, but our variation on "dude" was that it was an ingrown butt hair.
I was in NW Wisconsin at the time.
ElectronicDrama2573@reddit
Inconceivable! (If you know, you know).
jimmyjong2000@reddit
Here in Australia, my school yard said a dude is a camels dick!
Peanut083@reddit
If Iām remembering correctly, we were told that ādudeā was a horseās penis where Iām from.
DeterminedErmine@reddit
Australia?
Peanut083@reddit
Yep!
Stonetheflamincrows@reddit
We heard camelās dick in country NSW
teapots_at_ten_paces@reddit
My school in south east Queensland was also a camel's dick.
HereWeFuckingGooo@reddit
Memory unlocked but for some reason in primary school in the 80s and 90s kids would say "Don't call me dude, a dude is a camel's penis". As far as I can tell this was a thing in both Australia and New Zealand.
Stonetheflamincrows@reddit
Yep, camels dick in country NSW
DeterminedErmine@reddit
Yesss! Definitely a thing in Qld
Stonetheflamincrows@reddit
We heard that a dude was a camelās dick over here in Australia.
astr0bu0y@reddit
I remember dude meaning poo stuck on a sheep's butt when I was at school (late 80s UK)
schoolisuncool@reddit
Yeah a dude was a hair on an elephants butt lol Iām from FLĀ
ericthepilot2000@reddit
Dude being butt hair was something I heard in New York growing up
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Thank you! Yours is only the second acknowledgement about the butt hair, and there's alot of ground between NY and MN
decosunshine@reddit
Growing up in Colorado, dude was specifically an overgrown hair on an elephants butt. š¤·āāļø
ericthepilot2000@reddit
I feel like ours was horse or donkey. But that was a long time ago. Elephant is just was plausible.
Astrohumper@reddit
Dork means nerd. Dude is just dude. Iāve never heard any of these other things in my life.
Paul_Smith_Hi@reddit
Bay Area - California
I've never heard either of these. š¤£
TyrionReynolds@reddit
East Bay and I heard both of theseĀ
Shabbadoo1015@reddit
Boston. Never heard any one of these as well.
Rhianna83@reddit
Iām also from the Bay Area but I am familiar with ādork is a whale penis.ā The other one, no.
Adventurous_Cloud_20@reddit
Central Iowa here, I haven't either, but it's kind of funny.
blamberr@reddit
Pennsylvania. Me neither lol
PileofTerdFarts@reddit
The whale penis one for dork... absolutely. NE USA.
GreatRimuru51@reddit
Indiana guy here...
It's been probably about 25+ years now... but yes.. I was told not to say dude in NY because it was considered an insult.. never been to NY, never plan to go.... lol
But never heard that dork meant a whale penis. That's wild!
_buffy_summers@reddit
My father told me both of these. Actually, 'dude' was an infected butt hair, according to him. And a 'geek' popped bubbles with their teeth. I grew up in Indiana, and so did my father.
He also got really pissed off at a commercial once, because a teacher in it said 'lackadaisical', and my father told me that the teacher he had hated the most in school had called him that.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Your dad and I could hang out. A bunch of Norwegians once called me "vimsete" and I still feel salty about it. Even though it's not really in the dictionaries and it might be on me for translating or to "ditzy". I'm happy to hear he's passing along bad definitions.
TollyVonTheDruth@reddit
Yep. Heard both, except "dude" wasn't just a butt hair, it was a dirty butt hair.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Wow, so many kinds of butt hair that they need classification
Ashwalkerrrt@reddit
Whoa, I never knew about dude or dork like that! Makes me wonder what other words secretly mean...
Jonestown_Juice@reddit
I remember being told by my girlfriend that a "pud" was a hair from an elephant's butt.
Forward_Progress_83@reddit
Also in Mallrats when Brodie is talking to Stan Lee āThe Thing: is his dork made of orange rock like the rest of him?ā
inxquve@reddit
They use the word "dork" to refer to a penis in Johnny Dangerously as well.
Chemical_Butterfly40@reddit
Yes! Thatās where I heard it too!
victinine@reddit
My mother referred to my penis once..... ONCE!
Adventurous_Cloud_20@reddit
I always understood "pud" was another way of saying penis, and calling someone a pud beater was a normal insult in my school.
Horse_Dad@reddit
Never heard āpudā but a putz is Yiddish for penis.
Adventurous_Cloud_20@reddit
Hm, maybe that's where it came from? I don't know, I just remember that calling someone a pud beater was a fairly common insult when I was in school.
EatsCrackers@reddit
āPudā comes from āpartes pudendasā, the Latin for āprivate partsā. Several Romance languages use some variation of pudenda or pudendas to mean privates-as-in-genitals, so itās not much of a stretch.
samwise58@reddit
I wasnāt sure for a long time, then I somehow got the idea in my teenage years that pud was slang for a flaccid penis (non erect).
joshuastar@reddit
short for āpudendaā
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
That's so far from my teen years definition of pud. Which was an acronym and the gendered answer to what seems to have caught on as "fupa". PUD was a pudgy upper dickš¤£
fromthedarqwaves@reddit
I was going to say from Heavy Metal. I think that is the only time I heard someone call their penis a dork. We said it in school but it meant nerd.
frendly9876@reddit
Grew up in SF and a dork was definitely a whaleās penis. Dude is a new one though.
MetsFan3117@reddit
Iāve never heard any of this.
blondeviking64@reddit
I heard the dork one. Never heard the dude one.Ā
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Well so far bf is in the winners circle, so welcome to the party. We butt hairs are scattered and few.
Alternative-Light514@reddit
Iāve never heard any of these lol. Closest Iāve got was the little home schooled neighbor kid next door that looked up to me and my skater friends in the late-ā80s, used to try and talk like us and would say shit like āradimusā and āawesomicā. We never made fun of him or anything, but it was funny. Last I heard, he lives in Alaska and skis crazy backcountry, so pretty radimus if you ask me!
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
That's so radimus! I took up skiing again a couple years ago and left my back country ski dreams in the 90s. Very very happy with the green dots.
mrs_hippiequeen@reddit
dork being a whale penis is a clear memory, but i'd torally forgotten about a dude being a butt hair! i can hear my older sister saying it, clear as a bell š
(houston)
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
It made it to Texas! Or from Texas to Minnesota! I feel so vindicated
soyverde@reddit
Both of those were in VA, as well. It still amazes me how thoroughly this sort of thing spread pre-internet.
whyiwhat@reddit
Oregon - in my elementary school we all believed ādorkā was a whale penis.Ā
huan83@reddit
You telling me dork doesn't mean whale penis? I don't know if I'm ready to accept this.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Hey, I started this and the whale penises are getting way more love than the butt hairs, so I think you're good.
mruncreativ3@reddit
I heard both of those. Northeast Ohio.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
The Midwest knows what's up with dudes and dorks
Background-Action-19@reddit
I have kind of a wierd one. In the middle 90s a girl I went to church with called me up and asked me, "Got a gun?"
I was super confused so I asked her what she meant. She said it meant something along the lines of "What're you up to?"
I tried looking it up online a while ago and couldn't find anything about it, so I have no idea if it was some wierd local thing I didn't know anything about or what.
For added context, as far as I can tell her younger sister had a crush on me so she was trying to hook us up or something. Basically I didn't realize this until years later, so I have no idea if that somehow helps explain it or what.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Never heard that one, and it would be so awkward now had it caught on
MadPopette@reddit
I recall my mom telling me when I was 12ish that a dork was a male penis. I asked which other kind there was? Mom was a nurse. I was told off for sassing her..
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Can you ask her to indulge us on this? I'm dying
MadPopette@reddit
I will not be revisiting the conversation!
Bleakbornnk@reddit
heard the whale one but also that dork meant nerd so who knows
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Right? I would have considered them synonymous. But then towards the end of the 90s there was an upsurge of people reclaiming "nerd" as kind of a irreverent coolness
bradyblack@reddit
Certain derogatory words that were considered not derogatory words that were derogatory words
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Somehow I think I know what you mean with that
davwad2@reddit
I forget where I heard about dork being a whale penis. It wasn't during my childhood in pre-Katrina New Orleans though.
helluva_monsoon@reddit (OP)
Some of us held on tight to old beliefs. I imagine it was one of ours keeping the homefires burning
LegitimatePapaya9807@reddit
We were told a dude is a camel dick lol
blueyedwineaux@reddit
Definitely heard the dork one, never the dude one.
Dry-Discount-9426@reddit
In elementary school we thought a condom was a rubber penis.