Many things in life seem to have sexual connotations and representations, whether it be wordplay, innuendo or physical objects such as the aubergine/eggplant – made popular by it’s associated emoji.
Whilst some are widely known, others are much less common with people claiming to have no knowledge of their alternate meanings. That applied to a Reddit post this week, after a user of the platform shared a snap of his parents’ front garden.
“Were your parents, like mine, proud of their pampas grass?” he posted in the CasualUK subreddit. It prompted one person to quip: “Don’t forget to leave your keys in the bowl on your way in.”
Confused, another Reddit user asked: “Is this a sex thing in the UK?” Whilst a second, pondered: “Wait, from the comments, is this a swingers thing? I had a lot of ‘aunts and uncles’ growing up, and to this day they have hot tub parties and go on cruises all the time!”
Clarifying the pampas grass theory, meanwhile, a third claimed: “Pampas grass in your front garden is a sign that the household is up for a bit of swinging. I don’t know where it started, but kids were saying it in the early 80s too.
“I’m happy to say that almost the first thing my parents did, when we bought a house with pampas grass, was remove the pampas grass.”
Someone else recalled a similar situation: “We moved house a few years ago and there was a big clump of this stuff (who knows what the former owners got up to). As we didn’t want to start rumours, it came out very soon after we moved in. However, pulling it out ripped my hands to shreds – it even cut through my gardening gloves. Evil stuff.”
Others shut down the association, however, including one person who exclaimed: “No it’s an urban myth. It was just really popular in the 80s and was jokingly associated with swingers.” A second joked: “I don’t believe pampas grass is a sign of anything other than a gardener who doesn’t mind loads of razor cuts on their hands. Three gnomes in a row though? Party time!”
Elsewhere, another Reddit revealed the plant appears to be making a comeback somewhat. “Pampas grass is extremely vogue with millennials in the house at the minute, but not necessarily the late 90s massive forests of it in your front garden,” they wrote.
“Do fear some older relatives and family members could be getting mixed signals when visiting a younger relatives house with splashes of pampas.”
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