Growing up I wasn't necessarily what we might call "sheltered," but I had more good influences in my world than "not-so-good." There were some things I missed out on, particularly the off-color jokes or phrases. Once in a while I'd learn a new term or phrase from my granddad, and it was great fun.

Anyway... somehow this evening a few of them came to mind and I figured I'd ask if others have run into this.

Example 1: in my first job after college, one day I was looking for someone on my team and simply asked an office mate, "have you seen George?" The answer came back: "he went to take the kids to the pool." Not knowing any better, I responded with the truth: "Oh, okay. I didn't know George had kids."

A couple of people in the office got a good laugh out of that and explained what "taking the kids to the pool" really meant. Boy, was I embarrassed!

Example 2: same job. My boss was a kind Englishman, with the stereotypical dry sense of humor.
I'm in manufacturing, and one particular afternoon I had a series of parts lined up to process on the mill. At some point my boss -- we called him "G" -- walked by and casually blurted out, "Oh! Blacksmithing today, are ye?" Once again, my "newbieness" shone brightly: "No, G, I've got to mill the chamfers on these parts." I was a little confused, but in enough of a rush that I didn't think about it much. G grinned and headed on about his business. (In hindsight, he probably went 20 steps away to laugh his tail off at me.)

This one took a while for me to learn. In fact, it was at the next job that the meaning of that one came clear. I was talking with a couple of the machinists -- ahem, tool makers -- about some part I wanted made. I knew I could make it, but I also knew they could do it better, and faster. One of them pointed that out and said something like, "well, you could blacksmith it, I suppose." That's when I learned that "blacksmith" is a derogatory term machinists use toward less-experienced (or just plain bad) guys.

Here we are, some 20+ years later, and I'm in a new job but working with one of those great guys again. We've had a good laugh recently over that story... and he still says I might eventually make a decent blacksmith.

So. What phrases have you learned the actual meaning of much later than when you heard them? (Or was I way more sheltered than I thought?)

Early days of the internet (e.g ICQ for chats), there weren't widely accepted definitions of acronyms. For example, one group thought LOL was Lots of Luck and the other group thought Laugh Out Loud. I lots of lucked someone who was describing having to spend time with troublemaker family members at grandfather's funeral. They of course were a laugh out loud person and pissed at me making light of their predicament. Once we realized the problem we laughed our butts off and laughed about it for years.

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have you seen George?" The answer came back: "he went to take the kids to the pool." Not knowing any better, I responded with the truth: "Oh, okay. I didn't know George had kids."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Never heard that and still do not know the meaning. Seeing a man about a horse is pretty common in the South. Southern Appalachia has many of these expressions. Hungrier than Cox's Army was my mother in law's favorite expression.

^^^
Take The Kids to the Pool, Take the Browns to the Super Bowl, Code brown, bake some brownies, make a deposit at the porcelain bank, baptize a Baby Ruth, etc. are all euphemisms for having a bowel movement.

The version I've heard is "dropping the kids off at the pool." Which is more literal and made more sense. I have heard "seeing a man about a horse" and knew it meant the same thing. Though I can't really reconcile the ANALogy in my mind.

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Originally posted by tatortodd:
^^^
Take The Kids to the Pool, Take the Browns to the Super Bowl, Code brown, bake some brownies, make a deposit at the porcelain bank, baptize a Baby Ruth, etc. are all euphemisms for having a bowel movement.

"One eyed turtle sticking its tongue out"

As, "i got a one eyed turtle sticking its tongue out. Be back soon."

Seeing a friend off to the coast…same as kids and pool.

“I’ll be right back, I need to see a friend off to the coast”

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Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Fubar

I learned that one at that job, too, from a fun lady there who had served in the Air Force.

“Got one honking to pass”

“Shoot one through the hoop”

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Originally posted by vthoky:

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Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Fubar

I learned that one at that job, too, from a fun lady there who had served in the Air Force.

I knew it from context, didn't know the acronym until much later.

They had cartoons about Private Snafu during World War II. Same meaning as Fubar.

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I was looking for someone on my team and simply asked an office mate, "have you seen George?" The answer came back: "he went to take the kids to the pool."

I guess I'm as sheltered as you... I never heard that one.

"Bless his heart" is well referenced here. The first time I heard it was from one of the sweetest ladies I have ever known. She could be described as the stereotypical southern black lady and she could toss these sayings out in normal conversation.

My favorite one was in a meeting when one of our less then stellar tech stuck his head in the door and told us he was heading over to a production line to look at an issue. The door closed, and before conversation restarted, she looked around the room and said "someone should go with him, that boy has caused more damage than Sherman". 3 of us got up and followed hin out.

We used "walkin' the dog", as in "He's walkin' the dog!", to mean banging someone other than the usual partner/wife.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
They had cartoons about Private Snafu during World War II. Same meaning as Fubar.

SNAFU is actually a precursor state to FUBAR.

"Just wait until your father gets home!"

Didn't seem funny back when.

Probably should apologize for being slow, but it was years after I first heard, "that's a good place to be from" to appreciate that it wasn't a compliment about one's place of origin.

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Originally posted by RichardC:
"Just wait until your father gets home!"

Didn't seem funny back when.

I remember that not being funny in my house either, back in the day.

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Originally posted by vthoky:

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Originally posted by RichardC:
"Just wait until your father gets home!"

Didn't seem funny back when.

I remember that not being funny in my house either, back in the day.

Why is it funny now? I guess I was sheltered too, I'd never heard several of these.