Urban Dictionary

The Urban Dictionary is one of my favorite smartphone apps, the #1 resource to look up unfamiliar words or phrases at poker games. As noted in other posts, I’m a Middle-Aged White Guy (MAWG), constantly behind the curve when it comes to pop culture. Rather than suffer the embarrassment of asking “What does ‘motorboating’ mean?” (as another poker player did), I can look it up. Sometimes I’ll text a screen shot to Mrs., who is even further behind the pop culture curve.

A few nights ago, one of the players brought a small gift for another player. These are long-time regulars at a private house game, where relationships tend to become much friendlier than in casino poker rooms. The giver was a middle-aged white woman who, for purposes of this blog, I’ll call “Angie.” She brought a beautiful, handmade wooden box, about the size of a milk crate, with the logo and motto of the United States Marine Corps emblazoned in several places, leather handles, a small tray that rests at the top inside, and a larger storage compartment underneath the tray.

The recipient of this very nice gift is a military veteran who, for purposes of this blog, I’ll call “Fred.” Fred’s son currently serves in the Marine Corps. Fred was understandably flattered by this gift and looking forward to sharing it with his son.The box was sitting in a side room, away from the poker table, when Angie asked Fred, quite loudly, “Don’t you think everyone would like to see my box?”

Laughter and giggles erupted throughout the room. With a knowing twinkle in his eye, Fred calmly replied, “Yes, I think they would” and stepped out of the poker room to fetch the box.

When he returned, Fred said something to the effect of “Angie, I just want you and everyone else to know that I think your box is beautiful.”

More laughter, while Angie beamed – very pleased with herself – which led to series of increasingly sarcastic compliments about her box.

It quickly became apparent to me and several others that the people laughing the hardest were thinking about the Urban Dictionary definition of Box, which was around at least as far back as my high school days in the 1970’s, while Angie was only referring to the cube-shaped wooden container pictured above.

Poor Angie. This went on for 10-15 minutes until Angie asked why everyone seemed to think her box was so funny. “Is there some other meaning of ‘box’ that I’m not aware of?”

The best way to explain this would be to lookup Box in the Urban Dictionary, which I quickly did and slid my phone across the table.

(dramatic pause…)

“Oh! My! Gawd!”  

I have to give Angie credit for being an incredibly good sport once the “cat was out of the box.” so to speak. Hopefully she’ll download the Urban Dictionary app and use it wisely.

==============

Please help me build up my blog audience by sharing this post using the buttons below… Thanks in advance!