"Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I…

“Whenever I say the word ‘exercise’ I wash my mouth out with chocolate” (or “Every time I hear the dirty word ‘exercise’ I wash my mouth out with chocolate” or “Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate”) is a jocular anti-exercise saying that has been printed on many images.

“‘EXERCISE’ is such a dirty word in my household that whenever I even think of it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate. - Leonore Fleischer in Publishers Weekly” was printed in The Reader’s Digest in 1992. Leonore Fleischer is an author who was born in 1932. “Exercise is a dirty word, every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate!”—a shortened form—was posted on the newsgroup rec.crafts.textiles.needlework on March 25, 2003.

“‘Every Time I Hear the Dirty Word ‘Exercise’ I Wash My Mouth Out With Chocolate’—Richard C. Smith of Springfield” was printed in the Washington (DC) Post on August 4, 2003. “Whenever I say the word ‘exercise’ I wash my mouth out with chocolate. *from a magnet on my aunt’s fridge* haha!” was posted on Twitter by Lee McDerment on December 30, 2008.

Google Books
The Reader’s Digest
Volume 140
1992
Pg. 200:
“EXERCISE” is such a dirty word in my household that whenever I even think of it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate. - Leonore Fleischer in Publishers Weekly

Newspapers.com
24 September 1992, The Daily News (Lebanon, PA).“Scram-lets Answers,” pg. 19, col. 6:
“Exercise is such a dirty word” sighed the famous columnist “that every time I even think of it, I wash my mouth out with CHOCOLATE!”

Newspapers.com
27 March 1998, The Reporter (Martinsville, IN), pg. 4, col. 5:
Smile time: “Exercise” is such a dirty word in my household that whenever I even think of it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

Google Books
How Do You Want Your Room—Plain Or Padded?:
Sanity-preserving Tactics for Today’s Woman
By Jo Ann Larsen and Artemus Cole
Salt Lake City, UT: Shadow Mountain
1995
Pg. 186:
Exercise used to be such a dirty word that every time I thought about it I had to wash my mouth out with a chocolate.

Google Groups: rec.crafts.textiles.needlework
OT - or maybe it isn’t
Marie C
Mar 25, 2003, 7:10:47 PM
(...)
Here’s one that I heard that made me laugh:

Exercise is a dirty word, every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate!

4 August 2003, Washington (DC) Post, “The Funniest T-Shirts of 2003: Part One” by Bob Levey, pg. C11:
“Every Time I Hear the Dirty Word ‘Exercise’ I Wash My Mouth Out With Chocolate”—Richard C. Smith of Springfield.

Google Books
Wisecracks:
Everyday Wit and Wisdom
By Tom Burns
Hauppage, NY: Barron’s
2005
Pg. ?:
Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

Google Books
For the Love of Chocolate
By Cherie Rayburn
Kansas City, MO: Hallmark Books
2005
Pg. 73:
Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

Twitter
Vince Verbeke
@vcverbeke
Every time I hear the dirty word ‘exercise’, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
7:59 AM · Aug 25, 2008·Twitter Web Client

Twitter
Lee McDerment
@mcdzl
Whenever I say the word “exercise” I wash my mouth out with chocolate. *from a magnet on my aunt’s fridge* haha!
11:01 AM · Dec 30, 2008·Twitter Web Client

Google Books
The Gift of Age:
Wit and Wisdom, Information and Inspiration for the Chronologically Endowed, and Those Who Will Be
By Richard Lederer
Portland, OR: Marion Street Press
2011
Pg. 111:
Every time I hear the dirty word exercise, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

Twitter
chicn
@chicnlil1
Whenever I say the word “exercise”..... I wash my mouth out with chocolate
12:31 PM · Sep 17, 2014·Twitter for Android

Google Books
Title Exercise Is A Dirty Word Every Time I Hear It I Wash My Mouth Out With Chocolate: Blank Lined Notebook ( Chocolate ) Black
Author Deserts Designs F
Publisher Independently Published, 2019
ISBN 1082716472, 9781082716478
Length 122 pages