Innocent Awkward Question

Somehow, whenever Calvin asks a question, he ends up with a lot of them to answer.

Mrs. Potts: (referring to two characters' developing romance) There may be something there that wasn't there before.

Chip Potts: What? What's there, Mama?

Mrs. Potts: I'll tell you when you're older.

— Beauty and the Beast

The grown-ups may not think little Timmy is paying attention to the hushed, worried conversations or TV news reports, but little pitchers have big ears. Timmy has overheard a new word or phrase, but he doesn't know what it means. Or he's seen something and doesn't know what's going on. Because he is Constantly Curious, he decides to wait until the family is gathered around to ask, "Daddy, what's a _____?"

The question that Timmy wants answered may not necessarily be the meaning of a "dirty" word, though it can be. It might be a word that relates to the elephant in the room, the problem that the adults have been trying to avoid thinking about up until now. Or it might just be a complicated or controversial topic that Mom and Dad don't feel prepared to explain (especially if there are other people around). Or it might be related to sex in some way, such as "Where do babies come from?" or "How did the baby get into Mommy's tummy?".

No matter what the question is, expect embarrassment and possibly even an Oh, Crap! response from the adults. If anyone bothers to answer the question at all, expect throat-clearing and an awkward conversation to follow. Said awkward conversation might involve the adult explaining it in an evasive or euphemistic way to give them a more "innocent" answer and avoid explaining something adult. However, this usually backfires (often humorously) when the kid repeats the explanation in the wrong context.

The situation can be Played for Drama but more often it's Played for Laughs, especially if the question necessitates The Talk. In this case, the anxiety isn't so much about the topic itself as it is about prematurely shattering little Timmy's innocence. If played for laughs, it can turn out that the kid was not so innocent after all by having them swear, know about sex, etc (e.g. if Timmy asks why two dogs are on top of each other, then he gets lied to and replies with, "I thought they were fucking.").

Compare to Armor-Piercing Question, Innocent Bigot, Innocent Inaccurate, and Embarrassed by a Child. Contrast Not Actually the Ultimate Question. May lead to Innocent Swearing and/or a Swear Word Plot or happen during a Primal Scene.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In the manga version of AKIRA, the military declares martial law in Neo-Tokyo just before the second awakening of the title character levels most of the city and things get really ugly. In a cut away from the main action of the comic, an anonymous family wakes up to see tanks rolling down their neighborhood street. At breakfast, one of the children asks his father to define "coup d'etat".
• Not quite parent and child, but Lucky Star has a scene where the innocent and sheltered Yutaka overhears the term "yaoi" somewhere and immediately runs to her fujoshi mangaka classmate Hiyori to ask "Hiyori-chan, what's 'yaoi'?" A completely mortified Hiyori manages only to stammer, "I w-wonder what definition you are looking for..."
• Yotsuba&!: The gang goes to the beach and Yotsuba finds several jellyfish beached at the shore. She asks Fuuka and her dad if they are plastic, but they tell her that they're not, because the jellyfish are alive. Yotsuba then asks what "alive" is. Neither Dad nor Fuuka has any satisfactory answer and could only stutter until Yotsuba loses interest.

Comedy

• Comedian Gabriel Iglesias has incorporated his family's experiences into part of his comedy act. Namely, his biological son. Gabriel once told him that if his son had anything to ask him, he'd answer it. One night, his son was watching TV and saw a commercial advertising Girls Gone Wild-esque videos about hookers. His son asked what a hooker was, and Gabriel knew it wasn't right to tell him. He started making a fuss saying that he'd tell him anything if he asked, and Gabriel's girlfriend starts yelling at him for upsetting him. There was no way he could get out of that situation. He eventually tried to tell him in as kid-friendly a manner as possible, all the while his girlfriend was glaring him down.

Comic Books

• Persepolis: Marjane recalls when she was a little girl she received The Talk from her father when she asked him what "balls" are. Her further questions as to their structure made her father more nervous, him awkwardly comparing them to ping-pong balls.

Comic Strips

• Calvin and Hobbes:
  • This comic has a strip where Calvin asks his dad how exactly soldiers killing each other solves the world's problems. Two wordless panels later, Calvin muses that adults only act like they know what they're doing.
  • The usual "how are babies made" situation is also averted, in that Calvin's dad, rather than be embarrassed, makes up a crazy lie, and Calvin finds his dad's explanation (most babies are delivered by stork, he was unceremoniously dumped down the chimney by a big hairy pterodactyl) much cooler.
  • In one strip, Calvin asks his father why he lives with his [Calvin's] mom instead of with "several scantily-clad female roommates". Calvin's father looks shocked, and in the next panel, Calvin grumbles about no longer being allowed to watch TV.
  • In one strip, Calvin asks his mom why it's worth $4 a minute to talk on the phone with "goofy ladies who wear their underwear on TV commercials", causing his mother to indignantly ask him when he was watching that. Calvin says that it was during his morning cartoons.
• In one For Better or for Worse strip, a kid asks his dad what sex is. After awkwardly stumbling through the "male and female biological sexes" definition, the kid laughs at him and says it's the number between five and seven.

Fan Works

• Ace In The Hole (Persona 5): Kaito asks Akechi what a 'bastard' is after hearing a woman call him and his sister Miyuki ones. Akechi then explains, which causes Kaito to go into a brief bout of Bastard Angst until he is reassured that his mom did want him.
• In Ask the Dynamic Trio, based upon Rugrats, Tommy, who in the fanfic is 2 (one year older than in the show), asks what a communist is after hearing someone ask if his grandfather was one. The other person is unsure how to explain it to a 2-year-old and eventually claims it's someone who doesn't want to try anything new.
• In The Loud House fanfic Caught, Leni thinks she sees her little brother Lincoln masturbating. When the younger sisters overhear the older sisters talking about it there are a few instances:
  • First, Lisa, after revealing that she learnt what sex was online, she assures her sisters that she didn't learn from pornographic websites. The twins, who are only 6 years old, ask what "pornographic" means, but Lisa says that they'll know when they're older.
  • Then, when Lucy reveals that she learnt about sex after looking up the word "necrophiliac", the twins (along with two of their teenage sisters) ask what one is. The rest of their sisters just say, "Don't ask" in unison.
  • Finally, Lana (one of the aforementioned 6-year-old twins) asks what "misterbatting" is. Lisa corrects her that the word is "masturbation" and is about to define it, but Lori interrupts her, feeling that Lana is too young to know.
• In The Loud House fanfic How Lynn Clogged the Toilet for the First Time, Rita is pregnant, but her husband Lynn Sr. told their kids that babies come from the Delivery Stork. However, Lincoln (who was 3 at the time) asks why Rita is so lethargic. Lynn Sr. awkwardly says that she has to be strong when the stork comes.
• Peeking Through the Fourth Wall: In Episode 6, Lincoln, Lori, Lana, Lisa, and Lily are reading a story in which the narration establishes that the girls are having sleepovers with their crushes. It then says, "Not that kind of sleepover!". Lana (who was only 6 at the time) says, "What kind of sleepover now?", embarrassing Lori, who says, "Um... you'll find out when you're older."
• Pound and Pumpkin Cake's Adventures (and Misadventures) in Potty Training: In "Scootaloo the Potty Mouth", the twins, who are 2, overhear Scootaloo using the word "peeved", which, in the My Little Pony universe, is a cuss word. They then ask their mother, "What does 'peeved' mean?", shocking her.
• In this piece of Sonic the Hedgehog fanart, Cream asks Vanilla where babies come from. Vanilla's response is to unleash a Spit Take.
• Throw Away Your Mask: The allegedly-eleven-year-old Akechi asks a lot of questions about the "fun hotels" to embarrass Junpei and Yukari. Of course, Akechi knows full well what Love Hotels are, and is only asking to mess with them.
• In the Persona 4 fan-comic ''white lie (comic dub here), Nanako asks Chie and Yukiko why Adachi, who unbeknownst to Nanako was a Serial Killer, no longer visits them. Chie rambles as she desperately tries to come up with an answer to hide the truth, while Yukiko tells her without hesitation that he's in jail, and Chie has to stop her from telling Nanako that Adachi was arrested for murder.

Films — Animated

• Beauty and the Beast: The song "Something There" ends with Chip Potts (a little boy enchanted to be a sentient teacup) asking what his mother and her friends mean when they say there's possibly "something" there which wasn't there previously. They're referring to the growing infatuation between Belle and Beast, but Mrs. Potts feels that romance is too adult a subject for a child his age, so she says, "I'll tell you when you're older".
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas!: When the Grinch, dressed as Santa Claus, enters a house to steal the Christmas paraphernalia, a toddler named Cindy Lou thinks he's actually Santa and asks why he's taking the family's Christmas tree. The Grinch squirms and bites his nails for a few moments before lying that he's taking it to fix a faulty light on the tree.
• Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio: When Pinocchio first comes to life, he's Constantly Curious and begins asking Gepetto about the various items in his home. At one point, Pinocchio finds a chamber pot and asks what it's for. Gepetto awkwardly tries to come up with an explanation, but ultimately ends up not answering the question.

Films — Live-Action

• In Beauty and the Beast (2017), just like in the original Disney movie, Chip asks his mother Mrs. Potts what she and her friends mean when they say there is "something there" (i.e. that Belle and Beast are starting to fall in love). Mrs. Potts feels that he is too young to know, so she says, "I'll tell you when you're older". Chip waits a few seconds and then says, "Okay, I'm older".
• Donnie Darko: When the Darko family dinner takes a turn for the vulgar, younger sister Samantha innocently inquires about the meaning of one of the words used.
  Samantha: What's a fuck-ass?
• Hocus Pocus 2: When a man is explaining to a crowd of people that lighting the candle to summon the Sanderson sisters only works if you're a virgin, a little boy asks what one is. The man is about to define it and says, "A virgin is someone who has never..." but then chickens out and finishes, "...lit a candle."
• In the British nuclear holocaust docudrama Threads, Jimmy Kemp's sudden decision to marry his girlfriend without an engagement prompts his bratty younger brother to ask what an abortion is.
• Clint Eastwood played Detective Wes Block in Tightrope from 1984. While driving with his two daughters, young Penny Block inquires, "Daddy, what's a hard-on?" Cue Eastwood doing a Spit Take into the windshield. The situation is made worse by Penny's older sister, Amanda, giggling mercilessly at her father's discomfort.

Jokes

• Subverted in a joke: A little kid asks, "What's it called when two people sleep in the same bedroom and one is on top of the other?". The parent responds awkwardly, "It's called 'sexual intercourse'." Later, the kid comes back and says, "You were wrong — it's not called 'sexual intercourse'; it's called 'bunkbeds'."
• Some "Mommy, Mommy!" jokes qualify, with the kid asking a question, and the mother telling her kid to shut up since she doesn't want to admit she's done something bad:
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! What happened to all that dog food Fido wouldn't eat?"
  Alice: "Shut up and eat your meatloaf."
  —
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! Are you sure this is the right way to make gingerbread men? (or "Are you sure this is the right way to cook Peking duck?" or "What's for dinner?" or "But I don't wanna eat pizza!")"
  Alice: "Shut up and get back in the oven!"
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  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! What happened to all your scabs?"
  Alice: "Shut up and eat your cornflakes!"
  —
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! What's in those CARE packages they send to Africa?"
  Alice: "Shut up and get back in the box!"
  —
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! Why is Daddy so pale?"
  Alice: "Shut up and keep digging!"
  —
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! Why is everybody running?"
  Alice: "Shut up and reload!"
  —
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! Is this the way to make pickles?"
  Alice: "Shut up and get back in the barrel!"
  —
  Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! Why is Daddy bent over and crying?"
  Alice: "Shut up and eat your hot dog!"
  —
  -Bob: "Mommy! Mommy! Are you sure this is the way to learn to swim?"
  Alice: "Shut up and get back in the sack!"

Literature

• Adrian Mole intervenes when his father George talks of suicide in front of Adrian's son William.
  George: This little lad is the only reason I haven't topped myself.
  William: What's "topped myself"?
  Adrian: Oh, it means, er, getting better at something.
  (Later)
  George: But I'm not having all these injections in my dick.
  William: Who's Dick?
• In Anne of the Island, when Anne learns Aunt Josephine left her a thousand dollars, Davy asks if it means Anne will now marry Gilbert. Anne is pretty embarrassed, especially since at that point she is crushing on Roy Gardener.
• The Berenstain Bears: In "The Berenstain Bears and the Big Question", Sister Bear, after saying grace, asks Mama Bear, "What's God?". Taken aback, she says, "Well, that's a big question", then states that God created everything. Sister Bear then asks why God created unpleasant things such as stomach aches and slugs, but Mama has no answer, so she takes Sister to church.
• In Britt Mari Pours Out Her Heart, when Mayken's boyfriend visits the Hagströms, Mayken's 3-year-old sister Monica asks him if he is in love with Mayken (since 14-year-old Svante, another Hagström sibling, says he is). The family manages to somehow salvage the conversation, but when the boyfriend leaves, Monica asks Mayken again if he is in love with her and adds that Svante says so. Mayken gets back at Svante by pranking him.
• In Darth Vader And Son, a toddler Luke Skywalker asks his father, "Why is it called a 'Death Star'?". This stumps Darth Vader since he doesn't want to admit to his son that he's a killer.
• The Expanse: In Cibola Burn, Avasarala hears of a development involving the protomolecule and shouts, "Son of a whore!", apparently forgetting there's a 5-year-old present. The kid turns to her dad and asks, "Daddy, what's a whore?" He tells her it's a type of frost.
• The Meaning of Liff defines a "smeem" as the frozen smile a parent gets when their child points out a condom in mixed company and asks, "What's that?"
• The Orphan Train Adventures: In "A Family Apart", Frances overhears a conversation about the Underground Railroad. Later, when she asks her new foster father what the Underground Railroad is, he refuses to answer.
• In What a Goat!, the protagonist's father mentions possibly putting Gerda the goat down if she can't be rehomed. His little son says, "What's 'put her down'?", and the father awkwardly replies, "Well... you do it with dogs. You put them to sleep." Then, the boy replies, "You mean they die?".

Live-Action TV

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: In the episode "Moo Moo," when Jake and Amy are babysitting Terry's elementary-school-aged twin daughters, Cagney and Lacey. The girls accidentally learn the word "orgasm" from Jake and Amy and Amy hastily tries to fix things by teaching them that it's another word for "orange." This leads to an awkward moment the next morning when the twins ask Terry for "orgasm juice."
• At the start of the second season of Doom Patrol (2019), Jane has been secretly shooting up drugs to stifle her powers. Most of the others are unaware because she stays in her tent and they don't want to risk her Hair-Trigger Temper by checking on her, but Dorothy has No Sense of Personal Space and not only walks into Jane's tent but then pulls the syringe out of Jane's arm, thinking that it's hurting her. When Jane comes to, Dorothy apologetically asks if pulling the needle out hurt her. Jane avoids the question by demanding to know why Dorothy is in her tent.
• One episode of Family Law (2021) sees Abigail bringing her kids to work to meet their grandfather. When her son Nico encounters Jerri, the firm's transgender office manager, he innocently asks her if she's "the one who used to be a man", much to his mom's horror. Jerri takes it in stride, saying that yes, there was a time when she identified as a man, but she is a woman now, which Nico says sounds neat.
• In the Full House episode "A Fish Named Martin", after seeing her new pet fish giving birth to multiple babies, Michelle asked her dad where babies come from:
  Danny: (Beat) Why don't we go back to square dancing and I'll tell you about it later.
  [The rest of the family agrees and left the room]
  Michelle: Hey, get back here! I asked you a question! Where do babies come from? (marches after them) I know you know!
• How I Met Your Mother: In "How Lily Stole Christmas", Lily is angry at Ted the whole episode for repeatedly referring to her as being a word he censors in the story as "Grinch". Unable to have Christmas at home thanks to Lily stealing all his decor, he stays with his very religious cousin and her kids. Lily and the gang show up to bring him home, and he apologizes for calling her a "Grinch"... which leads one of the kids to ask them what a "Grinch" is. Lily frantically tells her it's a word they should never say... only for the kid to then ask their parents what the word means. Ted and the others run out, knowing they're in trouble.
• In the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Savant", the only witness to a victim's brutal assault is her daughter. Katie has Williams syndrome, which causes her to have an intellectual disability but also gives her extremely good hearing and near-perfect aural recall. When the assault happened, the noise scared her off and she did not see the assailant, but she did hear and recalls everything the assailant said in graphic detail before the assault. The cops bring in their most likely suspect in front of her, but she says that he doesn't sound like the man who hurt her mom. But then, the suspect's son says something, and Katie immediately makes a beeline to him and demands to know why he called her mother a bitch, since that's a word for a female dog.
• Life in Pieces: In the sketch where Matt introduces Colleen to his family, he notes that Tim likes to make awkward swinger jokes. Sure enough, Tim makes a joke about putting keys in bowls. His youngest daughter Sofia then asks if she can put her key in the bowl. This earns Tim a dirty look from his wife Heather.
• Lucifer (2016):
  • Lucifer's first interactions with Chloe's daughter, Trixie.
    Lucifer (after Trixie introduces herself to him): That's a hooker's name.
    Trixie: What's a hooker?
    Lucifer: Ask your mother.
  • In the very next scene:
    Trixie: (to Chloe) What's a hooker?
    [Chloe glares at Lucifer, who looks away innocently]
    Chloe: Daddy'll tell you.
    [Dan smiles sarcastically at Chloe]
• Two and a Half Men: "It Was Mame, Mom" opens up with Jake, Alan, and Charlie on the couch, then in only the opening seconds Jake randomly asks his dad if he suffers from erectile dysfunction. Jake, being 10 at the time, admitted to both of them he didn't know much about what that meant but heard one out of three guys gets it, saying his is "fine" so it's "got to be one of you". Charlie has it.

New Media

• Bad Movie Beatdown: When Matthew Buck reviews Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel with Todd In The Shadows, we're shown the scene of Theodore deciding to sleep with Teddy, who farts while Theodore is under the covers. Theodore shouts, "Dutch oven!" and starts scampering about, looking for the exit, leading to this exchange.
  Todd In The Shadows: Oh, good. The obligatory fart joke.
  Film Brain: (in a high-pitched child voice) Daddy, what's a Dutch oven?
  Todd In The Shadows: 'Cause Dave never farted in bed. Colon like daisies, that man.
• Buzzfeed: On this list of strange sex questions from kids, one boy had started listening to adult music and then asked his teacher what "choking chicks" and "sodomy" meant, getting him in trouble with his teacher.
• The Mysterious Mr. Enter: Discussed in one video where Enter learns that the song that the Totally Spies! theme was based on had a lyric about sex. He then imagines a kid asking, "Mommy, what does sex mean?".
• Wiki How:
  • This article advises parents on what to do if their child asks if Santa Claus is real, acknowledging it might stump parents who don't know whether to tell the truth or not.
  • This article is on how to give children The Talk, aimed at someone who was put on the spot after being asked where babies came from by a kid.
• Played with in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: playing Ping Pong Naïveté for all it's worth, Tristan asks Joey what sex is. Joey is about to answer, but Téa stops him, reminding him Tristan must not be allowed to breed.
• This article advises parents on what to do if their kid asks what a virgin is. It says that, no matter how embarrassed you are, don't say something like "It's someone who hasn't had their First Kiss" because then the kid might get kissed on the playground and declare they're not a virgin.

Puppet Shows

• Dinosaurs: Near the end of "Changing Nature", as Earl is apologizing to his family about plunging the world into an ice age, Fran assures him that they all understand, prompting Baby to ask, "Understand what?". This makes everyone look anxiously at Earl to see how he could possibly explain something so dire to his youngest son.
  Earl: Uh... Well, little guy, what happened was... Daddy was put in charge of the world, and he didn't take real good care of it. And now, it looks like there won't be much of a world left for you or your brother and sister to live in.
  Baby: Are we gonna move?
  Earl: Well... no. There's no place to move to. This is the only world we got.
• Sesame Street: Played for Drama in a Very Special Episode, where Mr. Hooper (the owner of the convenience store/cafe) dies, and Big Bird (who's only 6) asks why he had to die. The adults are stunned for a while, and then eventually Gordon (remembering how Big Bird was walking with his hands between his legs "just because" earlier) says that there isn't a reason, and it happened "just because".

Religion

• There is a tradition of Passover with children asking various probing questions like "On all other nights we eat either sitting up or reclining, why on this night do we all recline?" making this Older Than Feudalism.

Video Games

• Discussed in Dragon Age II, when Isabela (who Really Gets Around) expresses concern that Aveline and her new husband might have children and she's not the sort of person that they would want to be around in that case.
  Isabela: (in a high-pitched, mock-child voice) Mummy, what's a slattern?
  Aveline: I'll just point at you and say, "That's a slattern!"
• In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, a 7-year-old child calls into Chatterbox on LCFR. The call goes innocently at first, then the child asks, "Lazlow, do you know what 'fuck me harder' means?" It turns out they overheard it from their mother.
• My Child Lebensborn: The child asks two such questions within a few days from each other. The first is asking the parent what a "bastard" is because they were called a "German bastard" at school. The second is asking what a "Nazi-kid" is. How those questions are answered is up to the player, with a straight answer being an option in both cases.
• Yakuza: While Kiryu, Date and the Florist are trying to figure out how to get in Sangri-La, which is the city's most expensive soapland, nine year old Haruka asks them what a soapland is.^{for those who don't know}It's a Japanese type of porn house where you are bathed and pleasured by the hostesses Cue Kiryu floundering and trying to say it's kind of like a public bath, Date wants nothing to do with this conversation when Kiryu all but begs for help, and then Haruka asks him if he's ever been to one. Just as Kiryu is considering digging himself a hole, Haruka reveals that she knew all along. She was just pulling their legs.

Web Animation

• Planet Dolan: In one "True Stories" video, a boy accidentally gets an ad for dildos on his cell phone on the way to the store. When he gets to the store, he asks the shopkeeper, "What's a dildo?", but he just says, "Your mom will know". So, the boy goes home and repeats the question to his mother, but she just says, "You'll know when you're older", so he Googles it.

Webcomics

• Digger: The Shadowchild doesn't know what it is, and has a habit of asking if it is some thing it's just heard about, such as various animals and objects. During Digger and the Shadowchild's first run-in with the hyena tribe, the hyenas learn that Digger was the guest of an outcast of the tribe — an unthinkable taboo in their culture — and call her a pervert. Cue this whispered exchange:
  Shadowchild: What's a pervert?
  Digger: Tell you later.
  Shadowchild: Am I a—?
  Digger: No!
• Parodied in a brief Story Arc in ID Get: a father and his toddler daughter watch a baseball game on television when a trailer for Zack and Miri Make a Porno is played, prompting the girl to ask her father what a "pawerno" is. The father freaks out, and enlists the aid of incompetent superhero Captain Childcare, who comes up with a series of ridiculous and ludicrous solutions, only to be solved by the girl's teenage brother who explains to her, "It's something you don't need to know about until you're older."

Web Original

• This story involves a child asking his father "Where does poo come from?", and despite the father finding the question awkward, he answers honestly anyway. However, this was apparently not what he was asking about — the confused child follows up with, "And Tigger?"

Western Animation

• In the Arthur episode named "Bleep" DW hears a cranky pre-teen swear at his mom and asks for a definition to Arthur, causing him to drop his model plane.
• Bluey:
  • In "Daddy Putdown", Bingo lies down on a swing and asks Bandit where babies come from. After a Beat, Bandit says, "No thank you!" and lets go of the swing, causing Bingo to spin rapidly.^note This scene was removed in the US release.
  • In "Double Babysitter", the Heeler sisters are playing 20 Questions with their uncle Radley and their godmother Frisky. Bluey asks Radley why he doesn't have a wife and if it's because of his job, and Frisky why she only has three friends, while Bingo asks, "Is true love not forever?" after hearing that Frisky is no longer dating a guy named Bosco. These questions make the adults stammer awkwardly, and eventually Radley ends the game.
• Futurama: The Planet Express crew is hired to evacuate the wildlife from a doomed planet, intending to introduce them into a similar biosphere. Fry states, "I guess we'll be rounding up two of everything." Bender, being a robot, wonders why two. Leela has to lean aside and whisper the response to Bender, who promptly gives out an "Oh," and an embarrassed chuckle.
• The Loud House: In "Frog Wild", when the class of fifth-graders are looking at the pet frogs, one of them asks, "What are those two doing?", prompting the teacher to awkwardly cover up the tank, implying they were mating.
• An episode of Rugrats ("The Stork") has Angelica hearing conflicting stories from adults at a dinner table about how babies are made—her father Drew tells her that babies are made via fertilizing eggs, and then tells her that a stork comes by, reaching a compromise that babies hatch out of a stork's egg.
• The Simpsons: When the Flanderses go to a museum, Rod and Todd see an exhibit that explains that humans evolved from chimp-like animals. One of them, not understanding, asks if their dead mother was a monkey since he can't remember. This stumps their father Ned, who is a creationist, and he eventually says that God made humans. The boys are then confused since he claims a stork brought them, so Ned blurts out, "There's no such thing as storks! It's all God!" So the boys kneel down and pray in front of a taxidermied stork.
• South Park:
  • In "Spontaneous Combustion", Kyle overhears his parents complaining about their troubles in bed, and he asks various people what a "nerection" is.
  • At the beginning of "It's a Jersey Thing", Kyle talks to his parents about Stan's new neighbors from New Jersey, and he asks them what "muff cabbage" means.

Real Life

• Willie Rushton, collected from school by his parents, brought conversation in the car to a spluttering halt by asking how do you phuck somebody. In his defence, he said that at age 7, he'd only heard the word spoken and didn't know the correct spelling.

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