Fellowship of the Dix

Not every word near the subject is a name for it. This page holds the neighbours: erections, testicles, euphemisms for sex and idioms that borrow the vocabulary.

Jump to: Erections · Size and shape · Testicles · Euphemisms for sex · Spanish idioms · Catalan idioms · Fiction formulas · Editorial notes

Erection terminology · 15 entries

These describe a state, not the organ itself, so they have been moved out of the English A–Z.

  • Erection, arousal, hardness: the standard and descriptive terms.
  • Boner, hard-on, stiffy, stiff one, chub: informal names for an erection.
  • Half-chub: a partial erection.
  • Morning wood, morning glory: an erection on waking.
  • Sporting wood: having an erection.
  • Pitching a tent: an erection visible through clothing.
  • Pop a chubby, crack a fat: to get an erection; the latter is chiefly Australian.

Sources: Dictionary.com on morning wood; Urban Thesaurus: erection.

Size and shape · 4 entries

Bulge, girth, length, thickness. Descriptors rather than names, and a fixture of the fan fiction that started this collection.

Testicles · 6 entries

  • Balls: common informal name for the testicles.
  • Nuts: informal slang for the testicles.
  • Family jewels: humorous euphemism for the male genitals, particularly the testicles.
  • Gonads: anatomical term for the reproductive glands, including the testes.
  • Knackers: British slang for the testicles.
  • Cojones: Spanish-derived slang for testicles; also used figuratively for courage.

Sources: Wiktionary entries for balls, knackers and cojones. For why the orchid is named after a testicle, see From the Archive.

Euphemisms for sex · 10 entries

  • Sleep together: common euphemism for having sex.
  • Make love: euphemism for sex, often implying affection.
  • Get laid: informal expression for having sex.
  • Do the deed: euphemism for having sex, depending on context.
  • Horizontal tango: humorous metaphor for sex.
  • Roll in the hay: informal expression for sex.
  • Netflix and chill: contemporary euphemism that can imply sex.
  • Diddle: slang verb for sexual activity; previously filed in the A–Z as if it were a noun.
  • Put the sausage in the bun (community submission): a food-based metaphor, not an established idiom.
  • Put the train in the tunnel (community submission): a transport-based metaphor, not an established idiom.

Sources: Wiktionary entries for sleep together, get laid, Netflix and chill and diddle.

Spanish idioms · 12 entries

Established expressions built on penis slang, mainly as used in Spain. The meanings are figurative; nobody is literally discussing anatomy.

  • Ser la polla: to be extraordinary or impressive.
  • Ser la polla en vinagre: to be astonishing; often humorous.
  • En la quinta polla: in the middle of nowhere.
  • ¡Y una polla!: emphatic refusal or disbelief.
  • ¡Y una polla como una olla!: an even more emphatic, vulgar refusal.
  • ¡Pollas en vinagre!: annoyance, rejection or disbelief.
  • Qué… ni qué pollas: dismissive rejection of what was just said.
  • Me sale de la polla: “because I feel like it”; a defiant assertion of choice.
  • Hacer algo con la polla: to do something extremely easily.
  • Me importa una polla, me importa un pito, me importa un carajo: “I couldn’t care less”, in descending order of vulgarity.

Sources: Búho dictionary of slang: polla; Centro Virtual Cervantes (ASELE).

Catalan idioms · 5 entries

New in this edition.

  • Collons!: interjection of surprise, admiration or annoyance, literally “balls!”. Used before a noun, el collons de… works like “the bloody…”; one Catalan columnist calls “what will the bloody Barça do this Sunday” practically a proverb.
  • Tocar els collons: to annoy someone; literally “to touch the balls”.
  • Torracollons: a pain in the arse (of a person); literally “ball-roaster”.
  • Fotre un clau: vulgar, to have sex; clau literally means “nail”.
  • Sucar l’api / sucar el melindro: informal, to have sex; literally “to dip the celery” or “to dip the sponge biscuit”.

Sources: Enric Gomà, “Collons de l’estació”; Softcatalà: tocar els collons; Wiktionary: torracollons; VilaWeb on Catalan sexual vocabulary.

Fiction formulas · 2 entries

Templates rather than words, found in fan fiction: [Character name] Jr. and [Species]hood. Insert your protagonist or species as needed. The Fellowship does not judge.

Editorial notes and corrections

  • Turtle head has been removed from the English A–Z. In English slang it refers to something else entirely: Green’s Dictionary of Slang defines it as excrement on the point of emerging. In Chinese, however, 龜頭 (literally “turtle head”) is the ordinary word for the glans. Same turtle, very different destination.
  • Fudge packer has been removed. It is a homophobic slur for a gay man, not a term for anatomy, and it fails our editorial guidelines on two counts.
  • Duplicate spellings have been merged: tallywhacker/tallywacker, tube steak/tubesteak and wang/whang.
  • Erection terms, size descriptors and fiction templates have been moved from the A–Z to this page.