Many things in our day-to-day world carry hidden sexual meanings – be it cheeky wordplay, innuendos or physical items like the aubergine and its infamous emoji counterpart.
While some of these suggestive references are universally recognised, others remain obscure, leaving the uninitiated puzzled. This very confusion was evident on Reddit this week when a user posted an innocent-looking photo of his parents’ front garden, asking: “Were your parents, like mine, proud of their pampas grass?”
It prompted one person to respond in jest: “Don’t forget to leave your keys in the bowl on your way in.” The reply left other individuals confused, however, including another who queried: “Is this a sex thing in the UK?”
Similarly, it appeared a third was hit with a sudden realisation: “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!”
The queries resulted in explanations from others, one of whom put it bluntly: “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.”
A fellow Reddit user recounted a similar memory, adding: “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 dismissed the notion that the plant is a secret swinger signal, meanwhile, with one person asserting: “No it’s an urban myth. It was just really popular in the 80s and was jokingly associated with swingers.”
Whilst a second quipped: “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 amongst the comments, a Redditor noted the pampas grass’ apparent resurgence in popularity amongst the younger generations, penning: “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.
“Do fear some older relatives and family members could be getting mixed signals when visiting a younger relatives house with splashes of pampas.”
