A gay man on Twitter has gone viral after sharing how his mom misunderstood a bit of queer male cultural terminology--to hilarious results.
Twitter user @SpiceBoyJoey tweeted out his mom's hilarious misread of what Grindr, the popular gay male app, is used for. For the uninitiated, it's a location-based app to find men in your immediate area looking to hook up.
But to SpiceBoyJoey's mom, the word "Grindr" pointed to one thing and one thing only: submarine sandwiches.
See his tweet below.
He wrote:
"mom asked if Grindr is for 'ordering subs' and i just walked out of the room"
Oh, bless her heart.
In her defense, "grinder" is a word for submarine sandwiches in several parts of the country, especially in New England--similar to how they're known as "hoagies" in Pennsylvania. What is a sweet, innocent mom supposed to think Grindr is for in that case?
And credit where it's due, this is one of those situations where mom's not entirely wrong. Though Grindr is definitely not for ordering delicious sandwiches, the app is surely chock-full of subs--as in submissives, people who like to be dominated in the bedroom. Let's give mom a break, even a broken clock is right twice a day as the saying goes!
Joey's mom is in good company--the internet is full of stories of moms making similar mishaps, like baker Joe Manganello who went similarly viral after his mother asked for a definition of the word "bussy," a slang portmanteau of "boy" and "pus*y" queer men use to refer to their, er, hindquarters.
And YouTube is full of videos where people's moms--or just straight people in general--try to guess what gay slang words mean, to often cringeworthy results.
Even when it comes to sandwich-related mishaps, Jeoy's mom is not alone. In 2019, sandwich chain Jersey Mike's tweeted asking people "how do you top your sub?" that got so many ribald responses, the company ended up deleting it.
Joey's fellow tweeters, of course, found his mom's linguistic mishap hilarious.
At least this mishap inspired Joey to order a delicious sandwich for dinner.
At least... that's what we assume he meant.
