Am I a prude ?

I like your honesty too thatbags[ smile]

Where am I going wrong with my smiley things?

A superfluous space got in between the word smile and the square bracket.

Thank you. I will try and get used to this.

Bags I was trying to be amusing light hearted. Thank you HMH for your appreciation of my attempt.

You asked a question. I answered it. Also light-heartedly.

I think we've already agreed how easy it is for words in print to be misinterpreted. Both ways.

Ain't it just!

PS

PPS I didn't take offence just thought you'd missed the intended humour and taken me seriously.

You could use words like 'tit' and 'bum' and 'sod' which are both rude and not rude and then plead innocence.

Don't forget to mind your pees and queues!

Think I have told this story before, but my rather innocent mother was intrigued by words new to her. She never managed to use them appropriately, however. She discovered the word "w****r" and was rather taken with it as a derogatory term, using it freely. She was about 68 at the time.

In the end, I had to say something, and gently asked her not to use it. "But what does it actually mean then," she said.

Ever tried explaining masturbation to your mother??

HMHNanna She did

Ariadne I am so glad I wasn't playing scrabble the night my mother used the word.

My mother was a marriage guidance counsellor and a sex therapist, but not what you would call street wise. I once told her about a troublesome pupil who had gone on an army interview and in front of all the other applicants the sergeant had announced "We don't want this one, he's a wanker!"
My mother's response? "How did he know?*

I would not worry if it was the only word I could make, as Thatbags says with rude words, it's the context and the intent that makes words offensive.

I remember several years ago now that someone used the word wanker on Countdown, in Richard Whitely`s day, and it was allowed.

When someone is called a wanker it means they are a useless person, or stupid, or both. Sexual innuendo is often used in insults and name-calling.
It is not meant to be interpreted literally, only rudely. It's used for effect. So ariadne's mother probably understood it quite well without knowing its derivation.

In the US comedy show Married with Children, Al Bundy's useless wife was
Peggy Wanker Bundy, from Wanker County (played by Katey Sagal).

I have a feeling there was at least one Brit among the writers!

Thanks everyone for all your comments, from now on I will see some words differently.

Thanks, FB, 'Married with Children' with the Bundys was a US comedy that I really enjoyed. I shall look it up on YouTube and hope to snatch a few moments if pleasure from many years ago. Another US favourite had Mary Tyler-Moore and an older English actress in it, was it 'Bewitched'? Then of course there was the Lucy Show, and Sergeant Bilko + Private Doberman, and the Dukes of Hazard, with the short fat Mayor in the white suit and big hat. What memories!

Whereas my mother only understood the literal meaning bags

I play Scrabble on line with my son in Australia. I wouldn't like to shock him! We're quite circumspect!

Tell me which online scrabble you use.
Is it an app for an iPad or a website?
Is it free?