What's the 'Safe Word' on the Modern Family Set?

To get an idea of how mature 11-year-old Nolan Gould is -- and unlike his dimwitted Modern Family character Luke Dunphy he may be -- consider that yesterday at the TCAs, the actor responded to a critic's question about his entertainment aspirations with this thoughtful answer: "Well, I've been acting since I was little, so I've done pretty much everything -- commercials, film, TV -- except for voice-overs. I'd like to try voice-over work." Still, in spite of Gould's precocious maturity, he still needs to take certain precautions on set when it comes to interacting with members of ABC's most popular ensemble cast -- particularly Julie Bowen.

"Julie and I have a safe word," Gould told Movieline yesterday while discussing the Emmy-nominated actress, who plays his character's mother. "Julie's really funny, but she can be kind of inappropriate at times if she doesn't know we're around."

And what is that safe word?

"Oxymoron," Gould said proudly. "If I hear her say something kind of inappropriate, I'll shout, 'Julie! Oxymoron!' And then she'll be like, 'Oxymoron? What does that mean?' Our safe word changes though. Basically, if she doesn't know that [the kids] are around, she'll tell stories that are kind of, you know, bad. Like this one time she told a story about a bunch of sailors doing, well, you know."

There you have it: The Modern Family cast tries to keep its behind-the-scenes discourse as network-friendly -- if somewhat dysfunctional -- as the actual series itself.