Originally posted by vthoky:
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?)
