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I know there is a word for it — I heard it when I was young. What is the word to describe a person who catches the sexual overtones in a normal (non-sexual) conversation?

Here's one example I have (I said this and then laughed because it was my comment and went over my own head at the time):

I was considering a name for a mobile dog grooming business. I thought 'Doggie Style' was great. Of course, the room full of my husband's friends laughed at me, telling me I'd never get approved for a license with that name. What word would I use to describe them?

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Precocious, perhaps? – StoneyB Oct 25 '12 at 2:00
2  
It sounds like you're asking about the word for someone who misses the sexual overtones. Naive? Innocent? Gullible? – JAM Oct 25 '12 at 2:31
Oh, a quick google shows that your name has gone through after all. – Mr Lister Oct 25 '12 at 4:55
actually, there's a local dog grooming business called Doggie Style. For a while, there was construction on the sidewalk in front of the shop, so they posted a sign: "Please enter through rear". – Charles Oct 25 '12 at 15:21
"Doggie style"? I'd call a person who catches sexual overtones in this "man". Though most women will know it too. – SF. Oct 25 '12 at 15:26

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

It's an idiom, not a word, but we sometimes say one's mind is in the gutter.

EDIT: As for specific words, one could say, "You have a dirty mind!" My computer's on-board thesaurus offered these synonyms for that sense of the word dirty:

indecent, obscene, rude, naughty, vulgar, smutty, coarse, crude, filthy, bawdy, suggestive, ribald, racy, salacious, risqué, offensive, off-color

Of those, I think suggestive, vulgar, smutty, risqué, and off-color perhaps fit most closely with what you're getting at.

As an aside, ELU had an earlier discussion about the word naughty.

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Can you help me out a little better. Yes idiom I believe was the 'tag' I was looking for. I know there is a better specific word. I was young--didn't hang out in the gutter nor did my mind. Lol – Cindy Oct 25 '12 at 2:03
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@Cindy, IF you point out an unintentional sexual interpretation of someone's remarks you'd have been called out as a "pervert" when I was a kid. – Jim Oct 25 '12 at 3:16
up vote 2 down vote

Dirty-minded:

obsessed by sex and tending to see the sexual or obscene potentialities in things

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up vote 1 down vote

From popular culture, we'd normally refer to that person as 'Finbar Saunders'.

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up vote 0 down vote

you are noticing the ambiguity of a double entendre

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