I guess it’s like “cock”? Polla is derived from pollo (as a feminine form), so, a young hen. It is not “intrinsically” sexual; neither is “penis” in Latin, for that matter.
ETA slang can get firmly established, too.
Many years ago, I accidentally referred to a young (~20 yo) French man as being française rather than français. He was very offended, even angry.
So no, I wasn’t ridiculed, but my obvious (and obviously innocent) error was taken at face value.
I assume for those attuned to the language, it would be like calling a man a waitress or actress instead of waiter or actor. Myself, I would probably miss the nuance in pronunciation between française and français but I imagine a native speaker would really notice since that sort of thing is more important.
Yes, you’re absolutely right. I should have made that clear.
And you could probably hear the difference easily, French speaker or no. One is pronounced frahn-say and the other frahn-sez. (It makes sense in French, honest.)