Inspired by this thread on the origin of the term “G-string,” I’m wondering if anyone can provide reliable information on the origins of these two phrases, which both mean something like “giving 100%, not holding anything back.”
The theories I’ve heard that seem most reasonable (but are unverified):
“Balls to the wall:”
This may be a reference to aircraft throttle levers. Each lever has a ball on top; all levers moved completely forward to the firewall commands maximum engine power output.
“Balls out:”
May be a reference to the flyball speed governor on old steam engines. When the ball weights are extended to the maximum swing radius permitted by the linkage, the engine is running at top speed.
I don’t know the history, but I’m awfully suspicious of these “official” explanations.
I seriously doubt that the phrases would be as popular if they didn’t have the suggestion of raciness about them, and those given explanations sound too prim and innocent.
So have I, but a cursory search in Google books for “went balls out” or “go balls out” shows nothing earlier than the late 50s, which makes the “old steam engine” explanation seem unlikely. (These earliest references seem to all be from military pilots, which perhaps makes the “balls to the wall” etymology more probable.)
I’ve heard the aircraft explanation of ‘balls to the wall’ To add to what the OP posted, aircraft had (and have) the throttle, mixture control, and propeller pitch control mounted together in a quadrant; either to the pilot’s side, or centrally.* They have knobs on top (originally balls; but often not, today). The ‘wall’ would be the firewall.
Sounds plausible, anyway.
*Some airplanes have controllable props, and some have fixed-pitch props. In a single-seat or tandem seat aircraft, the throttle and other engine controls are usually on the pilot’s left. In side-by-side-seat aircraft, they are in the middle. Sometimes the controls are push-pull knobs in a line on the panel, each with a different-shaped knop so you don’t have to look at them.
Military phrases seem to focus on unique maleness. Besides the two the OP mentioned, there’s swinging dick. I often heard it used in emergencies. “We need every swinging dick on the flight line now!” It’s just another term for “every man”.
Sometimes I think history is like a Craig Ferguson monolog. Every phrase that can be sniggered at will be.
So if there are physical balls of any size, type, or roundness involved then someone will make a testicle joke. The joke may be funnier if you can say with a straight face, “What are you talking about? They’re just balls. See? Round things.”
Once the expression exists it’s likely to be generalized. So a swinging governor is swinging balls which becomes balls out which becomes testicles which becomes physical aggression which becomes ball to the wall.
Supposition? Yes. But balls to the wall appears to be military slang, which is heavily coarse and sexualized.
Balls up is also first found in a military context, although the general use of ball up as to make a mistake is older. That origin is unknown, although a taunt of “he don’t know one ball from his other” is the sort of thing I can imagine men saying throughout history.
Sometimes a ball is just a ball, as with the countless phrases that are pretty well known to emerge from baseball. (“has his eye on the ball”) But most of the time anything that can have a racy explanation does, at least somewhere in the mix.
This applies to most of the posts in this thread. I just hung it off of yours because it came closest to the point I wanted to make.
