This paper discusses the impact of life history and everyday life in the context of training unskilled adults for social work in Denmark. It describes origins of these two texts used as empirical material: a discussion by a group of long-term unemployed skilled adult male workers who went through a 2-year training program to obtain permanent employment as wardens in a psychiatric hospital (traditionally a man's job), and an interview with a mixed gender group of adult workers in youth clubs who completed a 2-year part-time program designed to match their jobs which they kept only if they completed the training. Analysis focuses on "uncouth" outbursts of aggression--on collectively agreed statements about others that were surprising and disquieting in the relaxed, permissive context of research interview and discussion. A passage from the male group is named one of many where the perception of women becomes the discussion's theme and men speak of women who talk about women's things and do their job poorly and about oppression and humiliation of men by women. A passage of the mixed gender group interview is an example of participants' aggressive labeling of student colleagues. The verbal abuse is demonstrated to be rooted in adult students' wish for personal and societal recognition. Finally, the paper elaborates on the underlying understanding of one medium of communication--language. (Contains 42 references.) (YLB)