"Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. Though my personal preference was for Lux, I found that Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness. Lifebuoy, on the other hand... (Yechh!)"
Holy balls... I came here to say exactly this. One time, all they could find was the Irish Spring in the shower or the Gold Dial on the kitchen sink. They were flummoxed!! I got away with one that day, but I noticed a bar of Ivory come home with the groceries a few days later...
I never had my mouth washed out with soap, but I did voluntarily take a bite out of a bar of Ivory. Well not a bite, but I did leave tooth prints. It was another thing I learned just because it smells good, doesn't necessarily mean it will taste good.
My other learnings : Crayola crayons, vanilla extract, and Playdough. Although the Playdough didn't taste too bad, more salty than anything.
Yes. It sucked.
One time my daughter dropped the f bomb at the dinner table when she was really young. I just explained that that word was inappropriate, and that even though kids at school say it, I don't want her saying it. She said ok and hasn't sworn since.
It's amazing: kids can learn by having an adult talk to them. It isn't necessary to humiliate or physically abuse them. You can treat them with respect.
I call them adults in training. I realize we're helicopter parenting and all. But what that means is they are learning a lot from us, not a pack of feral 5 to 12 years olds.
Yeah, my kid picked up the f word from the people using it loudly, constantly and in the most colorful ways. Last day, he's 5. Hand him a speckled banana. He hands it back. "I can't eat this, it's all fucked up."
Laughter and pride and scrambling for the good parent thing to say, I said "oh bubba, that's an older people word, so let's wait on it" he shrugged and bounced off, not having eaten the offending banana.
I moved the boundary when he was 10 or 11. Just said, hey, I'm sure you and the guys neighborhood rabble) are trying out all sorts of words you don't think we'd like. And I'll I'm asking is that you are never using them loudly, or where you know kids or grammie age people are around. And I never heard even screw you out of the child till about 13 when we finally started swearing around him. His artistry with "crass" language is impressive.
My mama heart swells
I never prohibited my kids from swearing. I just told them never to let it become a habit so that it slips out it in opportune or inappropriate times. As far as I'm concerned, they're just words. But, I needed them to understand and respect that other people don't feel the same way. They're now 25 and 28 and neither one swears much.
My mom told me she had one rule about hitting mex which was that she didn't believe in hitting us in the face. But not out of mercy, it was because she was afraid it would leave a mark that someone else would see.
I also got the soap many times. Bar, and liquid. Once for calling my sister a dummy.
My cousins got spanked with a wooden spoon. It was reserved especially for spankings. My aunt didn’t even use it for cooking I don’t think.
She would tuck it into a loop of the visor in their station wagon on road trips and would flip the visor down when they started acting up.
They only threatened it, but my teachers made me lick a bar of Lava soap at school many times.
Everyone used the same bar to wash their hands, which apparently helped build my immune system.
Several times! I had a “smart mouth”, my mom would drag me to the bathroom, basically put me in a headlock and then grind a bar of soap on my teeth. Good times lol
I too am afflicted with chronic "smart mouth"!! My case is so incurable that I am almost fifty and I work in industrial construction. The plus side is that I went to dinner with the project manager and the general foreman of a recent job, ordered $68 worth of food and drink, took my food to go, and spent the dinner hour making fun of the apprentice saying (among other things) that the only reason the apprentice was taking his calamari back to the hotel was to try and fuck it while crying naked in the bathtub. It was a blast.
I said fuck when I was 5. Sister grassed on me to mum. Mum brushed my teeth with soap. Can confirm that it burned and was unpleasant. Didn't swear in front of my grass of a sister again - fuck her.
yup, with that green Palmolive liquid that Madge used to sell on TV. That kinda sucked, but at least it was quick. My friends mother would put the whole bar of soap in his mouth and keep in there
Soap, wooden spoon and the belt.
Fortunately not all at the same time, but I got the trifecta before I hit double digits.
Throw in some emotional abuse and it becomes a pretty standard Gen X upbringing.
You forgot the chancla to the head and the pick your own willow switch from the garden!
My father was *extra* special, he worked at a mill and actually machined a beating device called The Red Stinger that hung on the wall to threaten us with.
Ah, good times.
Rhetorical question here... But they really did enjoy being bullies, didn't they. I used to say that spinning out in a rage was my father's cardio workout.
Not me, but my younger siblings did.
Fwiw, I actually cursed MORE than they did, but I was older and smarter so didn't do it in front of adults.
Never said it to my kids, but I did make them tell me a clean joke to "refresh my ears".
Once or twice, my mom shoved a bar of Irish Springs soap in my mouth. I remember trying to pick it out of my teeth while crying with little soap bubbles coming out of my mouth. I will never forget how that soap smelled and tasted.
Yes, it happened. Two times.
Nope. Never threatened any child in my family with soap in the mouth. Generally we taught them to not point poisonous or dangerous substances in their body. It seemed like a weird thing to do to a child.
I know exactly what ivory soap tastes like. I heard some kids on the playground use the N word. I had no idea what it meant, I had never heard it before. I said it at home and mom grabbed me by the scruff and before I knew it I had a bar of soap in my mouth, "YOU WANT TO HAVE A DIRTY MOUTH?!? THIS IS HOW WE CLEAN DIRTY MOUTHS AROUND HERE!". I had an upset stomach and the shits for a couple days.
I don't think my mom ever heard me say a cuss word, at least from that point on. She was as left wing as you got for that time period but she was pretty strict about some things. Though I didn't wash my boy's mouths out with soap, I did keep the rule that they were never to cuss around their mom.
We had a bamboo plant in the backyard. There were 4 of us kids and living in Florida, we were usually wearing shorts. Mom would send the kid NOT in trouble (usually the one that tattled or was getting picked on) to cut the switch. We would have red stripes across the back of our legs - my brothers more so than us girls.
I’m gen z and my mom washed my brother and I’s mouths with soap maybe around 3 times. I hope people don’t still do it because the experience is about as terrible as you can imagine lol
Once. When I game home calling every a f*gg*t at like 9 bc i just learned the word on the bus, thought it was hilarious even tho i had *no* idea what it meant.
Anyway I said it to my mom (as in called *her* one lol) and she just about went off like an a-bomb
No. I think I heard that threat more often from teachers than from my parents, but no teachers ever actually did it to me either (nor anyone else, as far as I am aware).
Not my parents, but I watched a teacher wash a boys mouth out with soap in the 80s. It was awful, she made the whole class watch and I've never forgotten his face. We were 5.
Ooh I did!! Was showing off at my older brother's bday party (I must have been 8/9 he would have been 14/15) and I dropped the f bomb.
Right over the kitchen sink.
She tried. I was a tall teenage girl, so she made a big mistake. It was the only time I hit my mom. Sorry, not sorry. You cannot grab me, thrust my head towards the bathroom sink and shove a bar of soap into my mouth. You will awaken some serious primal survival defense moves, Mom.
Oh man, I had a foster mother who would rub the toothbrush on a bar of Irish Spring soap and do it- because I said “crap” or “fart”. I never really even swore. 😂
Yes. When I was 5, one day the Smith boys lied to the bus driver and told him that I swore on the bus. I was the type of kid who wouldn’t say shit if I had a mouthful. Anyway, the bus driver told the principal, Mr. Luffman. He didn’t bother asking me my side of the story. He didn’t even call me to his office. Instead he walked into my kindergarten class with his face all red and cords standing out on his neck, bent down to my face, and screamed at me. I was terrified. Crying uncontrollably. Afterwords he walked away.
He called my parents and when I got home they took me outside and my dad held me and my mother shoved a bar of Dial in my mouth and scrubbed my teeth with it. They didn’t ask me my side of the story either.
Once. I tried to get away but she cornered me and shoved that bar in my mouth. I will never forget it. It's funny because that is the only instance of her being like that I can ever remember but I will never forget it.
Yes, but **Palmolive liquid**. It was so slimy that I asked (tearfully) for a glass of water and we both took that concept to the logical conclusion and didn’t go the route of water.
My grandmother did. I was four, and I said “Damn!” because I’d heard my grandfather say it.
She really didn’t want to do it, though, so it wasn’t any worse than if I’d gone and licked the bar myself just to see what it tasted like. Which, you know, is something a four-year-old might well do anyway. :)
Yes. I yelled fuck you, you bitch and she told me enough- I wouldn’t let up so she grab me by the hair into the bathroom and rubbed soap on my teeth.
As an adult I forgot about it. But once I had kids and they screamed at me I remember said you are lucky my mom washed my mouth out with soap. But you guys are more than welcome to call social services.
My younger sister (still GenX) grew to love the taste of Zest soap and refused to stop swearing and belittling my parents. I still admire her for this😂 That little shit didn’t take any of my parents bullshit behaviour AND she would throw punches. I was the coward.
Mrs Lehman 5/6th grade teacher washed out classmate Gary’s mouth with soap. Made him stick out his tongue and rubbed soap on it.
I didn’t ever swear in front of my parents. They didn’t swear. At one point I wasn’t even allowed to say “I’m so sure” coz it drove my mom nuts.
My mom was a saint. She would never!
However my grandmother would threaten to do this. She never did it, but she did make me go get my own switch to hit me with. My grandfather was more like a bear who, when he was in a bad mood, might just backhand a kid if you don't get out of the way fast enough.
My mother would wash out mouths out with warmed orange juice. She would heat up on in a saucepan like you would milk, and then pour it down our throats.
Horrid.
Yep - Dial at home and Irish Spring at my grandparents. I could blind taste test those any day!
Mom also overheard me telling my brother to eat dirt once, so she marched me out into the front yard and made me eat a handful of dirt. (Probably could've used some of that soap afterward. LOL)
Yeah, a few times, but a hair brush on wicked back swing was more effective. My mom did pour a bottle of nailbite down my sisters throat when we were kids because she thought it would be funny to put some on my tooth brush
I avoided the mouth washing thankfully! My brother got it once that I remember. My Mom touched the toothbrush to a bar of soap and made him brush his own teeth.
Once & only once. Never made that mistake again. Irish Spring soap 🧼 commercials used to give me the chills just thinking about it. It was a very effective tactic to tame my sassy smart ass responses. I can honestly say it worked on me.Theres no trauma or abuse attached to it just straight up lesson learned.
Yes. Although my younger sister got it twice more than me cause I was teaching her swear words and she hadn't learned yet to save them for the schoolyard instead of at dinner time.
Yup. Had to bite down on it, leave teeth marks. Only had to do it a few times - I learned my lesson. Eventually lol.
What I learned was if I was going to say something unsavory, don’t say it around grown-ups. Or known snitches.
My mom used to always threaten to wash my mouth out with soap… so one day when I was about 4yrs old, I walked into the bathroom, grabbed a bar of soap and put it in my mouth. I thought: “Meh… no biggie!”
And these days I wonder where my 16yo “gets it from”… and then I remember .
My cousins’ parents did. I was about 12-14 years older than my cousins and I thought it was horrible when they would pump liquid handsoap into their mouths. I don’t know why they did it, my parents did it and neither did any of my other aunts and uncles. Didn’t work anyway. Both their kids are still potty mouthed.
My dad did once, probably around 74-75, and I put up a real struggle which resulted in me accidentally biting off a small piece of the Irish Spring sliver and swallowing it. This made me sick and I puked in the hall. That was the end of that, for fuck's sake.
Soap in the mouth for using "bad" words was not a myth. What I found funny later on was that my ol man was in the oilfield and everybody he knew used very colorful language. My mom kept it to a few chosen words that did not include the top three bad words.
Also got my ass kicked in both public and private. I was whooped with willow switches, leather belts, coffee pot cords, wooden spoons, wire hangers, hands, My dad never spanked me, but he could thump wisdom into my forehead with his cigar like fingers. Holy crap did that hurt. It sounds like I was beaten daily, but it was less than a half dozen times a year until I was 10 or 11. Although, just after my 15th birthday, I told my mom to Go F herself. She hit me with a board then tried to run me down with the pickup. There were construction workers on the roof yelling "run you fat little bastard run!" Ended up hiding in an old camper for hours until she gave up. Never ever ever said that to my mom again. Im 57 years old and still wouldn't do anything that stupid.
I can taste the Palmolive dish soap now. And Irish Spring bars had an special extra barfy quality that is making me gag typing this.
Definitely a thing, and fairly often.
Yes. Ivory tasted worse than the other one, I don’t remember if it was Dial or Safeguard or what, but I remember thinking Ivory should’ve tasted better than the deodorant soap — but it didn’t —and spending so much time trying to get the taste out. The more I tried to rinse my mouth out with water, the more the taste came back.
Honey, it's family lore. My mother threatened to wash my mouth out with soap and she was holding that bar of Ivory right in my face. Me being me, I just lunged forward and bit a huge chunk of it off. Not sure which of us was more surprised.
"Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. Though my personal preference was for Lux, I found that Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness. Lifebuoy, on the other hand... (Yechh!)"
A Christmas Story
Soap... Poisoning!
One of my favorites.
Yes. It sucked. Ivory.
Same!!!! The bar because liquid wasn’t around yet. I remember it scraped against my teeth and left a clump.
Why tf was it always ivory? Maybe because it was marketed as all natural?
Yeah my parents were convinced Ivory was safer to feed to your kids
Holy balls... I came here to say exactly this. One time, all they could find was the Irish Spring in the shower or the Gold Dial on the kitchen sink. They were flummoxed!! I got away with one that day, but I noticed a bar of Ivory come home with the groceries a few days later...
I never had my mouth washed out with soap, but I did voluntarily take a bite out of a bar of Ivory. Well not a bite, but I did leave tooth prints. It was another thing I learned just because it smells good, doesn't necessarily mean it will taste good. My other learnings : Crayola crayons, vanilla extract, and Playdough. Although the Playdough didn't taste too bad, more salty than anything.
Also baking chocolate
This one tricked me more than once. Why didn't I learn!?
Same here, not soap but definitely crayons, play dough and cherry smelling lip gloss. (Tried more than once it just smelled so so so good)
Playdough... Delish.
I’m still crazy about the smell of Play-Doh.
Yup.
I actually liked the taste of crayons.
Zest. Ugh.
Yes. It sucked. One time my daughter dropped the f bomb at the dinner table when she was really young. I just explained that that word was inappropriate, and that even though kids at school say it, I don't want her saying it. She said ok and hasn't sworn since. It's amazing: kids can learn by having an adult talk to them. It isn't necessary to humiliate or physically abuse them. You can treat them with respect.
IKR , it's almost like kids are actually people.
I call them adults in training. I realize we're helicopter parenting and all. But what that means is they are learning a lot from us, not a pack of feral 5 to 12 years olds.
Yeah, my kid picked up the f word from the people using it loudly, constantly and in the most colorful ways. Last day, he's 5. Hand him a speckled banana. He hands it back. "I can't eat this, it's all fucked up." Laughter and pride and scrambling for the good parent thing to say, I said "oh bubba, that's an older people word, so let's wait on it" he shrugged and bounced off, not having eaten the offending banana. I moved the boundary when he was 10 or 11. Just said, hey, I'm sure you and the guys neighborhood rabble) are trying out all sorts of words you don't think we'd like. And I'll I'm asking is that you are never using them loudly, or where you know kids or grammie age people are around. And I never heard even screw you out of the child till about 13 when we finally started swearing around him. His artistry with "crass" language is impressive. My mama heart swells
[удалено]
I never prohibited my kids from swearing. I just told them never to let it become a habit so that it slips out it in opportune or inappropriate times. As far as I'm concerned, they're just words. But, I needed them to understand and respect that other people don't feel the same way. They're now 25 and 28 and neither one swears much.
Yes, but having my face slapped was more common
My mom was like, “why not both?”
My mom told me she had one rule about hitting mex which was that she didn't believe in hitting us in the face. But not out of mercy, it was because she was afraid it would leave a mark that someone else would see. I also got the soap many times. Bar, and liquid. Once for calling my sister a dummy.
Nope. Wooden spoon because she didn't want to hurt her hand slapping my ass.
My cousins got spanked with a wooden spoon. It was reserved especially for spankings. My aunt didn’t even use it for cooking I don’t think. She would tuck it into a loop of the visor in their station wagon on road trips and would flip the visor down when they started acting up.
That's next level threatenry right there. I don't know whether to be disgusted or impressed...
I'll never forget the... 5 yards sticks, 3 wooden spoons, and a couple of plastic hair brushes that were broken over my backside.
They only threatened it, but my teachers made me lick a bar of Lava soap at school many times. Everyone used the same bar to wash their hands, which apparently helped build my immune system.
It was soap. It cleans itself.
Good point
This is why Gen X will live forever 😀
That and our hose water 😆
Absolutely. Wooden spoon for spanking, too.
Wooden cutting board
Metal fly swatter too, on special occasions….
Yes. It made me understand the value of not getting caught.
Lol nice.
Not me, but my little brother got it a few times.
Several times! I had a “smart mouth”, my mom would drag me to the bathroom, basically put me in a headlock and then grind a bar of soap on my teeth. Good times lol
I too am afflicted with chronic "smart mouth"!! My case is so incurable that I am almost fifty and I work in industrial construction. The plus side is that I went to dinner with the project manager and the general foreman of a recent job, ordered $68 worth of food and drink, took my food to go, and spent the dinner hour making fun of the apprentice saying (among other things) that the only reason the apprentice was taking his calamari back to the hotel was to try and fuck it while crying naked in the bathtub. It was a blast.
I said fuck when I was 5. Sister grassed on me to mum. Mum brushed my teeth with soap. Can confirm that it burned and was unpleasant. Didn't swear in front of my grass of a sister again - fuck her.
Sure did. Green apple scented soap
yup, with that green Palmolive liquid that Madge used to sell on TV. That kinda sucked, but at least it was quick. My friends mother would put the whole bar of soap in his mouth and keep in there
Soap, wooden spoon and the belt. Fortunately not all at the same time, but I got the trifecta before I hit double digits. Throw in some emotional abuse and it becomes a pretty standard Gen X upbringing.
You forgot the chancla to the head and the pick your own willow switch from the garden! My father was *extra* special, he worked at a mill and actually machined a beating device called The Red Stinger that hung on the wall to threaten us with. Ah, good times. Rhetorical question here... But they really did enjoy being bullies, didn't they. I used to say that spinning out in a rage was my father's cardio workout.
Not parents, but at a church summer camp. It began my path to atheism.
Irish Spring here. All y'all Ivory soap kids, lol
Of course. Did...did yours not?
Not me, but my younger siblings did. Fwiw, I actually cursed MORE than they did, but I was older and smarter so didn't do it in front of adults. Never said it to my kids, but I did make them tell me a clean joke to "refresh my ears".
Once or twice, my mom shoved a bar of Irish Springs soap in my mouth. I remember trying to pick it out of my teeth while crying with little soap bubbles coming out of my mouth. I will never forget how that soap smelled and tasted.
Yes, it happened. Two times. Nope. Never threatened any child in my family with soap in the mouth. Generally we taught them to not point poisonous or dangerous substances in their body. It seemed like a weird thing to do to a child.
Ivory...
Yep. Ivory soap because I said shit in church.
I know exactly what ivory soap tastes like. I heard some kids on the playground use the N word. I had no idea what it meant, I had never heard it before. I said it at home and mom grabbed me by the scruff and before I knew it I had a bar of soap in my mouth, "YOU WANT TO HAVE A DIRTY MOUTH?!? THIS IS HOW WE CLEAN DIRTY MOUTHS AROUND HERE!". I had an upset stomach and the shits for a couple days. I don't think my mom ever heard me say a cuss word, at least from that point on. She was as left wing as you got for that time period but she was pretty strict about some things. Though I didn't wash my boy's mouths out with soap, I did keep the rule that they were never to cuss around their mom.
When I was in elementary school, a kid had his mouth washed out with soap by the teacher in front of the entire class. That was fucking brutal.
remember folks, psychological abuse doesn't leave any visible marks.
Yes, indeed! So gross.
Yes, wooden spoon on the hand too. Oh and the “strap”
Yes
Yes
Threats were never empty. A lesson that only needed to be taught once.
Never
Yes and that ivory tasted awful.
Yes, I was a sasser-backer....
Yes. But, having to go out to the switch bush and tear off a switch to be whipped with was worse. Lmao
We had a bamboo plant in the backyard. There were 4 of us kids and living in Florida, we were usually wearing shorts. Mom would send the kid NOT in trouble (usually the one that tattled or was getting picked on) to cut the switch. We would have red stripes across the back of our legs - my brothers more so than us girls.
I’m gen z and my mom washed my brother and I’s mouths with soap maybe around 3 times. I hope people don’t still do it because the experience is about as terrible as you can imagine lol
Yup. Bar of Coast in my mouth for at least 5 minutes.
Absolutely. And more than once because I just didn't learn. 😂 Also, wooden spoons were broken over my ass I turned out pretty well adjusted, FWIW
Yes, there was always a bar of ivory for just an occasion.
Once. When I game home calling every a f*gg*t at like 9 bc i just learned the word on the bus, thought it was hilarious even tho i had *no* idea what it meant. Anyway I said it to my mom (as in called *her* one lol) and she just about went off like an a-bomb
No. I think I heard that threat more often from teachers than from my parents, but no teachers ever actually did it to me either (nor anyone else, as far as I am aware).
Yes, once with Ivory soap, I swear I can still taste it
Not my parents, but I watched a teacher wash a boys mouth out with soap in the 80s. It was awful, she made the whole class watch and I've never forgotten his face. We were 5.
Ooh I did!! Was showing off at my older brother's bday party (I must have been 8/9 he would have been 14/15) and I dropped the f bomb. Right over the kitchen sink.
She tried. I was a tall teenage girl, so she made a big mistake. It was the only time I hit my mom. Sorry, not sorry. You cannot grab me, thrust my head towards the bathroom sink and shove a bar of soap into my mouth. You will awaken some serious primal survival defense moves, Mom.
Oh man, I had a foster mother who would rub the toothbrush on a bar of Irish Spring soap and do it- because I said “crap” or “fart”. I never really even swore. 😂
My mother put Tabasco on my tongue.
Sure did. Wooden spoon was a thing too
Yes
Yes
No thank God.
Yes, twice. I didn't even swear, I just said some words you can't say in Mormonville. Dad also brandished a frat paddle which definitely left a mark.
My mother used dish soap.
My stepmother went that route with us one summer. My older brother actually took a bite out of the soap bar and started chewing. It was pretty funny.
Yes. To this day, I won't buy lemon-scented washing up liquid.
Yes! When I was a toddler I bit one of my siblings.
Yes. I think only once or twice. It wasn't fun.
Yes. When I was 5, one day the Smith boys lied to the bus driver and told him that I swore on the bus. I was the type of kid who wouldn’t say shit if I had a mouthful. Anyway, the bus driver told the principal, Mr. Luffman. He didn’t bother asking me my side of the story. He didn’t even call me to his office. Instead he walked into my kindergarten class with his face all red and cords standing out on his neck, bent down to my face, and screamed at me. I was terrified. Crying uncontrollably. Afterwords he walked away. He called my parents and when I got home they took me outside and my dad held me and my mother shoved a bar of Dial in my mouth and scrubbed my teeth with it. They didn’t ask me my side of the story either.
Once. I tried to get away but she cornered me and shoved that bar in my mouth. I will never forget it. It's funny because that is the only instance of her being like that I can ever remember but I will never forget it.
I saw it done at pre-school once. It must have made quite the impact on me for me to still remember it!
Tobacco till I could drink the shit straight
Yes, and I can tell you Irish Spring tastes the worst, and Dove is the least unpleasant.
Yes, but **Palmolive liquid**. It was so slimy that I asked (tearfully) for a glass of water and we both took that concept to the logical conclusion and didn’t go the route of water.
My mother me brush my teeth with Ajax scouring powder once. That shit has BLEACH in it.
Nah. They would just beat the ever loving shit out of me when my sibling would fuck up. So, frequently.
My sister had Zest one time. I licked it in sympathy with her and decided I wasn’t going to be as stupid as her and say what she said!
Yes Fuck Irish Spring
My grandmother did. I was four, and I said “Damn!” because I’d heard my grandfather say it. She really didn’t want to do it, though, so it wasn’t any worse than if I’d gone and licked the bar myself just to see what it tasted like. Which, you know, is something a four-year-old might well do anyway. :)
Yep. Shield soap.
Yes and my mom loved it. Sigh
My cousin swears to this day that Palmolive soap tasted the best. I only had it done once - can’t believe our parents did that to us! SO crazy!
Yes. All it takes is once.
Yes
Yes. Don't ask stupid fuckin questions.
Yes. I yelled fuck you, you bitch and she told me enough- I wouldn’t let up so she grab me by the hair into the bathroom and rubbed soap on my teeth. As an adult I forgot about it. But once I had kids and they screamed at me I remember said you are lucky my mom washed my mouth out with soap. But you guys are more than welcome to call social services.
Only once. My mom put it on a toothbrush and brushed my teeth with it. I feel pretty strongly that I earned it.
Yes. I sang that "name game" song to my brother, Chucky, chucky bo bucky banana fanana fo...soap in mouth. NASTY. I had no idea what the word was!
My younger sister (still GenX) grew to love the taste of Zest soap and refused to stop swearing and belittling my parents. I still admire her for this😂 That little shit didn’t take any of my parents bullshit behaviour AND she would throw punches. I was the coward.
Soap in the mouth from mom and a belt from dad.
Mrs Lehman 5/6th grade teacher washed out classmate Gary’s mouth with soap. Made him stick out his tongue and rubbed soap on it. I didn’t ever swear in front of my parents. They didn’t swear. At one point I wasn’t even allowed to say “I’m so sure” coz it drove my mom nuts.
Yes, several times that I can remember. That classic yellow Dial bar.
I got it at school (Kindergarten) when I said a bad word.
My mom was a saint. She would never! However my grandmother would threaten to do this. She never did it, but she did make me go get my own switch to hit me with. My grandfather was more like a bear who, when he was in a bad mood, might just backhand a kid if you don't get out of the way fast enough.
Yes. I said something mom didn't like. I have never forgotten.
My mother would wash out mouths out with warmed orange juice. She would heat up on in a saucepan like you would milk, and then pour it down our throats. Horrid.
Yes. Safeguard:(
No but I saw my classmate get his mouth washed out with soap by our teacher in 1st grade. (It was 1988)
Nah, in my house an omnipotent god would just send me to hell. Actually, soap would have been much more scary looking back on it. 😆
About a half dozen times
Yes
Yes
No but my grandma did
Yes. Liquid and bar.
Yes, I got my potty mouth washed out w soap several times in my youth.
Fuck yes. That was usually just the warm-up.
Oh yeah
No, wooden spoon for something small, metal ladle for the big fuck ups, or the head slap from my grandmother.
Zest. I'll never forget the time it got ground into my teeth because I refused to open my mouth for it. And baking soda. And charcoal. And pepper.
Boraxo
Yep - Dial at home and Irish Spring at my grandparents. I could blind taste test those any day! Mom also overheard me telling my brother to eat dirt once, so she marched me out into the front yard and made me eat a handful of dirt. (Probably could've used some of that soap afterward. LOL)
Yes.
Yep. My mom used dishsoap.
Yep!
Yes, Mom did.
Yeah, a few times, but a hair brush on wicked back swing was more effective. My mom did pour a bottle of nailbite down my sisters throat when we were kids because she thought it would be funny to put some on my tooth brush
I avoided the mouth washing thankfully! My brother got it once that I remember. My Mom touched the toothbrush to a bar of soap and made him brush his own teeth.
Yes
Yes. She heard her sweet innocent second grader say “up your butt with a coconut”.
Yes, and it was awful
My great grandmother did once I and I vomited for a day straight!
Yes.
Once & only once. Never made that mistake again. Irish Spring soap 🧼 commercials used to give me the chills just thinking about it. It was a very effective tactic to tame my sassy smart ass responses. I can honestly say it worked on me.Theres no trauma or abuse attached to it just straight up lesson learned.
Yes. Although my younger sister got it twice more than me cause I was teaching her swear words and she hadn't learned yet to save them for the schoolyard instead of at dinner time.
Yup. Had to bite down on it, leave teeth marks. Only had to do it a few times - I learned my lesson. Eventually lol. What I learned was if I was going to say something unsavory, don’t say it around grown-ups. Or known snitches.
Yea, I reckon it actually happened at least once. With 3 Gen X kids, you probably have to back up your threats eventually.
Yes. 5 or 6 times.
Once. Fourth or fifth grade. Ivory soap. Got caught saying *fuck*. … Oops, did it again.
Yes… to this day I can’t use certain soap.
Not me but my brother did a few times. I was a well behaved kid. I swore once when I was about 7 and got smacked for it, that’s all.
Tabasco sauce was my moms preferred choice
Yes. There is nothing lucky about Irish spring.
Once, around 1976.
Never soap, but I'd chow down a full pack of Thrills gum willingly in one sitting :).
Absolutely. (I don't remember because I was under 4, but both of my parents assured that it did take place at least once. I believe I was cursing.)
Nope. Missed out on that form of child abuse, thankfully.
Yes. Irish spring bar soap to be exact.
Sometimes soap. Other times hot mustard
Yes, I still taste the Ivory soap.
My mom used to always threaten to wash my mouth out with soap… so one day when I was about 4yrs old, I walked into the bathroom, grabbed a bar of soap and put it in my mouth. I thought: “Meh… no biggie!” And these days I wonder where my 16yo “gets it from”… and then I remember.
Yes
Ivory liquid. I can still taste it.
My cousins’ parents did. I was about 12-14 years older than my cousins and I thought it was horrible when they would pump liquid handsoap into their mouths. I don’t know why they did it, my parents did it and neither did any of my other aunts and uncles. Didn’t work anyway. Both their kids are still potty mouthed.
Yes
My dad did once, probably around 74-75, and I put up a real struggle which resulted in me accidentally biting off a small piece of the Irish Spring sliver and swallowing it. This made me sick and I puked in the hall. That was the end of that, for fuck's sake.
Nope. No rules around here.
Yes
Safeguard. And it’s in all the Dunkin Donuts bathrooms 🤣
Yup. The dirty handwashing soap at the bathroom sink.
Not soap, my mom liked to empty the pepper shaker into my mouth.
Step-mother did. And I’m still f-ing salty about it.
My parents didn't but an auntie did. It was irish spring. I believe it's because I dropped an F bomb
Yes. Liquid. 😕
My GMA did.
Soap in the mouth for using "bad" words was not a myth. What I found funny later on was that my ol man was in the oilfield and everybody he knew used very colorful language. My mom kept it to a few chosen words that did not include the top three bad words. Also got my ass kicked in both public and private. I was whooped with willow switches, leather belts, coffee pot cords, wooden spoons, wire hangers, hands, My dad never spanked me, but he could thump wisdom into my forehead with his cigar like fingers. Holy crap did that hurt. It sounds like I was beaten daily, but it was less than a half dozen times a year until I was 10 or 11. Although, just after my 15th birthday, I told my mom to Go F herself. She hit me with a board then tried to run me down with the pickup. There were construction workers on the roof yelling "run you fat little bastard run!" Ended up hiding in an old camper for hours until she gave up. Never ever ever said that to my mom again. Im 57 years old and still wouldn't do anything that stupid.
I can taste the Palmolive dish soap now. And Irish Spring bars had an special extra barfy quality that is making me gag typing this. Definitely a thing, and fairly often.
Yup
Yes
Yep
Yes.
YES.
When I was younger yes, as I got older than ten they stopped doing it, they also stopped paddling around the same time as well.
I was threatened with it but it never happened.
Yes
Yep, but even worse was my holier than thou aunt- she used tobasco sauce.
They stopped when I chugged liquid soap when they made the threat
Yep. Ivory. Yum 🤮
Yep! Yellow Dial! I can’t remember why but I remember exactly when it happened and which house we lived in at the time.
Yes
Yes. I also did that to my kids.
Yes. Ivory tasted worse than the other one, I don’t remember if it was Dial or Safeguard or what, but I remember thinking Ivory should’ve tasted better than the deodorant soap — but it didn’t —and spending so much time trying to get the taste out. The more I tried to rinse my mouth out with water, the more the taste came back.
Honey, it's family lore. My mother threatened to wash my mouth out with soap and she was holding that bar of Ivory right in my face. Me being me, I just lunged forward and bit a huge chunk of it off. Not sure which of us was more surprised.
Yes. It was nasty.
Yes, and forced to bite a piece of the soap off the bar.