So the other day I was watching a re-run of Growing Pains . Do you remember the character they called Boner? What the heck were they thinking? At the time of the I show was probably around 11 or so and I knew what a boner was. So if i was with my parents and i was talking about the show with my brother or someone i wouldnt say Boner because it was dirty word and i would have probably gotten a slap across the face. So after seeing it 18 years later it brought up some questions: What were they thinking naming the kid Boner and would this fly today in a society that crucifies janet jackson for showing a nipple?

I always wondered that myself. I guess they can justify it because I think the guy's last name was Stabone or something. I know in hockey, players call Adam Foote "Footer" and Adam Deadmarsh "Deader" and so on, but Boner seemed a little blatantly sexual. I guess if we can call a President Tricky Dicky......

yeah, I think Boner was blatantly sexual, but it didnt seem to bother anyone. crazy

but the hocky players name wasnt created by a writer,
i always wondered why they didnt call him Bone?

Before "boner" had the more common meaning of an erection, it was more understood to mean a "fuck up". You would commit a boner, or if you committed boners often, you just were a boner. Our baseball historians on RM will no doubt know the story of "Merkle's Boner" from 1908, a famous fuck up that allowed the Cubs to win the pennant, and subsequently their last World Series.

I bet that even as late as the 80's, most older people who might have been offended by the erection referrence were thinking the "bonehead mistake" kind of boner, not the hard-on kind of boner.

--PunkDavid

...and the high school team was the dewey high hooters..

We used to call a friend of mine "Boner" because rumor had it that he never sported an erection until he was about 13.

i've committed a few boners in my day

Whaha, that's hilarious. What a name for a character!!