A UK family were left cringing after playing a kids’ version of popular game Cards Against Humanity, having got hold of US cards that were a little, erm, lost in translation.
Cards Against Humanity is a fill-in-the-blank party game that is notorious for encouraging controversial and awkward answers.
These days, there is both an official Family Edition and a separate Kids Against Maturity game – created by Nutt Heads Games – meaning children can join in on the fun.
But UK-based Reddit user u/H00py-Fr00d42 recently found out that the American cards they had of the latter didn’t quite work as intended across the pond.
Sharing a photo of two cards from their Kids Against Humanity game, the user wrote: “This is what happens when you play a ‘kid friendly’ version of Cards Against Humanity that was produced in the States.”
As with the adult version, players are required to complete phrases using the cards they have in their hands.
In this case, the first card read: “Mom says I’m not allowed to play with ______ anymore.”
The phrase they inserted? “My big fat fanny.”
Naturally, the main issue was that ‘fanny’ means something slightly different in the UK.
In the US, the word is used to describe someone’s backside, whereas on the other side of the Atlantic, it’s a colloquial name for another part of the anatomy – yep, female genitalia.
One person commented: “I'm in the US and have never heard it used to mean vagina before, only ever as a prudish way to say a*s. Is it a British thing for it to be used for vagina?”
Someone else said: “TIL Brits connect ‘fanny” with “vagina’. 33 years of my life I’ve always believed fanny meant butt. When I Google it, it actually shows different definitions for UK and US. I still can’t wrap my mind around ‘fanny’ meaning vagina….”
Another asked why the card worked, even if it was intended to mean ‘bottom’.
“Regardless of the word fanny, why would they use the phrase ‘Big fat bum’ in a kids game?” they asked, to which one other Redditor replied: “Because kids think bums are hilarious.”
Another agreed: “Poo, wee and bums are the height of comedy to children.”
Others had experience the same problem with the game, with another Brit saying: "My 10-year-old has this. So many of the cards are just utterly meaningless to us all. He spends half the game asking me to Google the answers. I removed some cards when he first got it but most of it seems to be poop related."
They added: "It's things like brand names for American snacks we've never heard of, American slang etc. It's not that they don't make sense, it's just that we've never heard of a lot of the things in there. It's definitely a very US orientated game."
But some people seemed to enjoy the game.
"The GOAT game of Christmas," one said, with another adding: "We have this game. Our best was: "What do you get when you rub a unicorn horn? Sticky fingers..."
