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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Writer's Post: Innocence & Middle School

When I was an innocent twelve year old, my big sister explained all those naughty words we weren't allowed to say but needed to know before entering middle school. When she came across the "F" word, she refused to define it because it was too naughty to talk about. Those with me in those early seventies, now know the bad word: "fifty."

Unfortunately, urban dictionary did not exist yet, and Bev's little vocabulary lesson was not nearly enough.

In the seventh grade, I had a crush on an eighth grade boy who I didn't know and still have never spoken to. Knowing he was Jewish, I needed to let him know that I was/am Jewish too. When we had a fifties day, I wore my earrings. A friend told me that the only people with pierced ears in the fifties were prostitutes. Here was my chance to let the boy of my dreams know I'm Jewish. I loudly said, and repeated multiple times, "I'm not a prostitute, I'm Jewish." Okay, prostitute sounds like protestant, and I didn't know what one was anyway so... oops.

Apparently, my classmates were not as innocent as me. They repeatedly mentioned a catch phrase of, "Sit on it" when at odds with each other. To add even more emphasis to the phrase, they would say, "Sit on it and rotate." Being super naive, I didn't know what this meant but said it anyway when my sister upset me. My mother held the dish soap under my nose and yelled about how she'd wash my mouth out with soap. Dirty? Did I say something dirty? Back in my middle school innocence, I didn't know that phrase was dirty. Oops.

Then came sleepover camp. Late night Truth or Dare with a crowd of boys and girls was the ultimate fun in middle school, until Ruthie asked me, "Are you a virgin?" Not knowing what a virgin was, I sure didn't want to admit to being one, so I said, "No."

Oh my. The faces around me turned white and mouths dropped open because who was not a virgin at age 13 in the seventies? Of course, I didn't know why I got their strong reaction to my answer. Ruthie explained to me that a virgin is someone who has never had sex.

Oh! A virgin! I thought you said, "Virgo." I'm a Sagittarius.

12 comments:

Jo said...

Holy snickerdoodles! I don't honestly believe I was EVER that innocent. That is hysterical and I knew a girl just like you in 8th grade. She was a stitch, but my friends and I educated her soon enough. LOL

danneromero said...

i didn't know what 69 meant... even though everyone else in high school seemed to get it...

i hated not understanding...

maybe that's why i am so open about any subject my kids are interested in... in the end, they have always been the kids who have the answers (but were never crude about any of it).. if anything, they enjoyed the mature feelings that came with knowing...

revelations said...

I in my innocence thought girls never talked about that stuff till I hid in an empty locker in the girls gym change room.... :) .. I was a naughty child...:)

Anonymous said...

Innocent....absolutely! LOL

Binky said...

I'm a chocolatarian.

Unknown said...

I had two older brothers so I knew everything. My parents explained many things to me at a young age (not the dirty stuff) but more of the mechanics and technical terms. Oh my! Pretty much all my friends came to me if they had questions. I had a friend whose mom didn't explain anything to her. Poor girl. I didn't give out wrong information. Honestly I'm still the one my friends come to for advice and help on certain subjects. I guess that's a good thing.

I love the oh I thought you said Virgo. Good save. :)

http://robbiescorner.com

Rhonda said...

LOL - great post my Sagittarius friend. Looks like that ugly F word is just around the corner. Actually, so far 50 has been awesome for me. Thanks for the giggles.

Unknown said...

Oh my, that is funny!!!! LOL love it Joyce!!

Kathy
http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

This is so funny and so typical of a young girl back then (and a little earlier than that). Brings back memories!

Veronica Lee said...

LOL! I thought a virgin was someone from Virginia!!!

Suzy said...

Oh lol that's a great post. thanks for sharing.

shelly said...

Now I know what sit on it and rotate means. Talk about naive. Fonzy on Happy Days used this phrase. It was a clean show. Right? My parents let me watch it.