Confusing 'a crap' with 'a crab'
Well, I was very young.

At 16, in my first job, I listened attentively to a couple of colleagues describing their drunken Saturday night out.

One of them had sneaked into a shrubbery for a crap. I'd never heard the word 'crap' before and thought she said 'crab'.

For quite a while afterwards, I wondered why drunken people needed to seek out crustaceans in bushes.

Of course, some people DO catch crabs when drunk. But that's just confusing things.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 17:18, 9 replies)

I think "crustaceans in bushes" is the fear, isn't it?

( BrokenCoccyx doesn't mind if you grope on, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 17:25, closed)

Seriously?
You were 16 and had never heard the word "crap"?
(TDub Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides on, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 18:13, closed)

This was 35 years ago
when the term 'crap' wasn't widely used.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 21 Jul 2010, 6:19, closed)

It was used in my school
I distinctly remember, aged 7 or 8 (as I was then) replying to my parents' question of how my day at school went, that something was "crap". I didn't really know what it meant myself either, but from the contexts where I'd heard it used at school, I deduced it meant "a bit rubbish".

Gulps from parents. Meaningful looks exchanged. "A bit what, Julian?" (For 'tis my name. Born in the 60s, see.)

I then had a long anguished-modern-parents meeting where they wanted to know where I'd heard the word, and that I shouldn't repeat it, because it wasn't one to be used in polite company.

From this, I learned not to say "fuck" in front of my mum and dad either, because while I didn't really know what that meant, I did know that it was a much ruder word than crap. And only to giggle when Dad said it (on hitting his thumb with a hammer, etc.) as long as Mum wasn't around.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Wed 21 Jul 2010, 17:41, closed)

Something similar happened to me.
Somebody was explaining how bad it was that people kept dropping litter. I’d not a clue what litter was, so decided it must be the same a glitter, and couldn’t understand why I’d not seen any about if it was so common.

I was 5 years old.


My cousin used the phrase ‘escape goat’ when he was 19. When I questioned him about the phrase he said that it came from the idea of the goat being selected by the other farmyard animals to try and escape, and therefore be the one that got in trouble. Bless.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Tue 20 Jul 2010, 18:28, closed)

wrong but still right
I like that. I'm stealing it.
(CactusZack Shaved his coin purse on, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 21:14, closed)

I've seen crap soup in a Korean restaurant.

(Pie of Meat ___°¬¯O¯____\o/_____/\_,____Y¯¯Y, Tue 20 Jul 2010, 21:44, closed)

I've seen crap pots being advertised for sale outside a hardware store that also does a line in fishing gear. They were meant to be crab pots. I think.
(kenzillion, Wed 21 Jul 2010, 6:57, closed)

Or...
Maybe they were just really bad pots...
( snee held his breath since, Wed 21 Jul 2010, 8:54, closed)