LOL Juddgirl, you are right! So funny, I'm glad you found some humor in your plumbing project! That is not typical, in my experience.

Hahaha...there are many parts that have suggestive names...I was at work in the old days when PCs meant you had to rip the machines apart and add boards and chips and such. I had to go downstairs to maintenance and say to Harry, "Don't misunderstand me, but I need a screw". Fortunately I knew both him and his wife well, was not misunderstood, and he handled it most gentleman-like...and dare I say, I got my screw!!!

LOL! Glad you can still laugh during a remodel.

Yes, I remember asking at the local hardware store for a long screw. As I said the words I could feel my face turning red. It's a good thing that I didn't also need some caulk!

You haven't lived until you had to order mouse balls - which came in different sizes and colors to fit apple and microsoft mice. ;-)

Helene

LOL - those are all hilarious, and how could I forget caulk?! I'm sure I'll be running to Home Depot for that next week when we start tiling.

I never even knew those were called mouse balls - glad I'm not in IT :-)

as they say on The Office....

That's what she said!

Say what you will, but there is no confusion about which/what part someone is referring to with this nomenclature.

Ye-ah...let me tell you just how fun it is being a female employee in a hardware store when it comes to that stuff. Male and female orifices...oh boy. I much prefer housewares and paint! As for caulk...I just say "caulking" to be safe. Some people totally enunciate the "L" in caulk, which is funny because it seems likely that they know how to say it, they just don't want to sound lewd! And there's always the old carpenters that don't seem to know the definition of sexual harassment. Oh well. We get used to it; I'm sure it's worse for people unexpectedly shopping for these things, and y'all have my sympathy! ;)

In the Northeast, the word "caulk" sounds nothing like any other word. And we don't pronounce the L.

juliekcmo - big Office fan here and that phrase gets used in my house when DH is going on and on talking about plumbing and such. It makes a not so interesting conversation (to me) funny :-).

jessica, that's too funny!

marcolo - my husband's from the NE also, and it doesn't sound inappropriate when he says it. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing the word, along with a few others.

I'm in the northeast and caulk rhymes with hawk and talk so that is not a problem. But the device that makes your toilet flush is called a ballcock. No really. You can't make this stuff up.

Of course the really bad language comes from doing plumbing itself. I remember all the words coming out of my father's mouth as he was trying to fix a leak in the old house and every time he went to tighten a pipe, the next one would break, even down into the wall necessitating ripping walls apart. Now that I think of it, perhaps he was just referring to some plumbing parts!
;)

Excellent laugh at work! Thanks Juddgirl2!

I imagine most of the men giggle under their breath when we show up. But they really have no clue how much we know. I've never had an issue with most of the nomenclature due to an engineering background which became normal.

Piece of history: Did you know that a woman designed the first scroll saw? She was sewing on a treadle machine and realized that if a small saw was used in the same concept...wood could be designed for a ton of uses.

Caulk, Talk, Hawk...still rhyme inappropriately here! Or at least close enough. Now I need to find someone from the northeast to figure out what sound I'm missing.

I'm definately not taking any of you people with me to the hardware store if I ever need a petcock.
For the same reason, I've always wondered why the hardware store stocks these in a place nobody would ever think of looking. (That way, you have to ask for one)

petcock, ballcock?! See what I mean, the list is never ending! If DH sends me to the hardware store for one of those I'm going to send him to the store for all of my feminine products :-)

emagineer - that's an interesting piece of history. I wouldn't have made the connection between the two but it makes sense.

I will have to shar ethat piece of history w/ DH and my dad. Very cool!

Caulk...my husband was a forester and wore cork boots - boots with spur bottoms for traction. But they were spelled caulk boots. We finally figured out that they must have been first used in the NE where the way they pronounce caulk was interpreted as "cork" here in the NW. I guess we nw'ers thought they were saying cork but just dropping the r. Kind of like...cawwwwwk - with a silent l in there somewhere.

I was a bit wrong about the scroll saw. Really had to dig to find information on this part of history. But wanted to make sure you received the correct info. It was the table saw. I still think I read this somewhere else and the story had to do with the scroll saw and treadle machine. This was invented so long ago, somehow I still believe it and am going to think a man took the original idea.

Link is for the original history:

Here is a link that might be useful: Tabitha invented the table saw

I'm in the northeast and caulk rhymes with hawk and talk so that is not a problem.

Hmm, to me those words also rhyme with rock, and er, that other word.

This is a cute thread. I was a veterinary technician many years ago (in my 20's)and had to go to the place that sells welders, welders' masks and such to get some oxygen tanks filled to use with our anesthesia machine. As I was waiting, I walked around the show room and decided to see what it would be like to look through one of those big masks with the pull down shield. There was a naked lady in there...wearing only a Santa hat! I'm sure I turned beet red and the guys on the other side of the two way mirror were hooting.

Gee terriks, what can I say that Sounds like talk? Awful, law, pshaw, saw, heehaw. Not dock, pock lock, sock, or shock.

My husband refused to buy a stud finder once, because he'd have had to ask the sales guy where they were.

lol - DH has jokingly pointed his stud finder towards himself a few times :-)

LOL juddgirl. Good for you keeping your sense of humor after all these surprise projects. Sounds like our house.

While the siding was off the wall by the kitchen, I asked dh if this wouldn't be a good time to install the pipe for the vent hood. He said no and nailed plywood over the opening before I could think of another reason to get him in the hot attic.

I've been wondering who thought of the common name for Rapistrum rugosum. B*****d-cabbage.

'In the Northeast, the word "caulk" sounds nothing like any other word. And we don't pronounce the L.'

right. not much different than talk, hawk - lol! I've been saying caulk over and over in my head and missing it - however some of you say it. It's never sounded to me like a word I shouldn't be saying...

leave it to the guys to work it around words like that!

I have heard caulk pronounced the same as chalk on some DIY shows.

Clueless,
Those don't come with the batteries already installed for a reason.
Take a stud finder off the shelf, put it in your buggy, continue shopping, rolling buggy down the isles.....see what I mean?