# Baseball metaphors for sex - what do other countries use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979 "2011-07-14T05:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/1 "2011-07-14T05:07:04Z")
So American teenagers work hard to get around the bases when they go on dates, but what do teens in, say, France, try to do? Is there something similar centered around football (soccer), or is it more of a US thing? [Obligatory XKCD link.](http://www.xkcd.com/540/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/2 "2011-07-14T05:49:11Z")
To hopefully clarify more than that XKCD does: If one kisses a member of the opposite sex, one is said to have made it to first base. If there is fondling of breasts, that’s second base. Third base is non-intercourse contact with genitals, and a home run is full-on sex (of course, there is considerable variation in the precise meaning of all of these but the home run, but that’s the general idea). The metaphor can of course be extended, but most extensions of the metaphor, you’re going to just have to explain your literal meaning anyway (the extended metaphors in the XKCD strip are in no way standard). ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/3 "2011-07-14T05:52:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > To hopefully clarify more than that XKCD does: If one kisses a member of the opposite sex, one is said to have made it to first base. If there is fondling of breasts, that’s second base. Third base is non-intercourse contact with genitals, and a home run is full-on sex (of course, there is considerable variation in the precise meaning of all of these but the home run, but that’s the general idea). The metaphor can of course be extended, but most extensions of the metaphor, you’re going to just have to explain your literal meaning anyway (the extended metaphors in the XKCD strip are in no way standard). I knew someone was going to link to it sooner or later, so I figured I’d get it out of the way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/4 "2011-07-14T05:53:27Z")
The phrase “sticky wicket” seems ripe with possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/5 "2011-07-14T05:54:06Z")
When I was a teenager we occasionally used the “bases” analogy, presumably stolen from American teen comedies. We didn’t use cricket terms sadly, even though it has a silly mid on, a crease, stumps and a sticky wicket. Other than that we were just explicit: “I got a handful of tit” or “I got two fingers up”. ETA: you bowled a googly, **MEBuckner**. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/6 "2011-07-14T06:48:38Z")
I was certainly aware of the baseball metaphor, and no other sport that I’m aware of has the same sense of progression as baseball does. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/7 "2011-07-14T08:54:05Z")
I scored… ---
**Author:** ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/8 "2011-07-14T09:11:55Z")
Japan uses the letters A, B, and C for the various stages of romantic activities. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/9 "2011-07-14T09:42:12Z")
Well isn’t this a strange one? For such a wordy nation, fond of our literary heritage and deeply in love with euphemism sexual slang, we seem to be quite lacking a metaphor for that. “Tops and Fingers” (and varieties thereof) is about as eloquent as we get for that. Of course when it comes to full act we have an embarrassment of riches. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/10 "2011-07-14T12:12:28Z")
When I was a teen in the UK, we used a star system (one star, two stars, etc.) but I can’t remember what the maximum number of stars was (maybe 5), or the specific meanings of individual numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/11 "2011-07-14T12:55:37Z")
GGOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaalllllll! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/12 "2011-07-14T13:12:25Z")
“Puttin’ it in the back of the net” always seemed obvious to me. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/13 "2011-07-14T13:15:24Z")
back in the day: “put the wood to her”… kind of baseball-ish ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/14 "2011-07-14T13:17:06Z")
1° grade, 2° grade and 3° grade that’s what we use. The ‘Goal!!!’ metaphor refers to pregnancy, being an unwanted one an ‘autogol’ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/15 "2011-07-14T14:00:57Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > When I was a teenager we occasionally used the “bases” analogy, presumably stolen from American teen comedies. We didn’t use cricket terms sadly, even though it has a silly mid on, a crease, stumps and a sticky wicket. > > Other than that we were just explicit: “I got a handful of tit” or “I got two fingers up”. > > ETA: you bowled a googly, **MEBuckner**. Concur. No particular system in evidence in the UK. The terms used might be slang (and obscure to those not in the know), but there’s no rhyme or reason to them. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/16 "2011-07-14T14:24:20Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Is there something similar centered around football (soccer)… Bear in mind how rare the scoring is in that sport… ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/17 "2011-07-14T14:34:09Z")
> [@grimpixie](#): > > … no other sport that I’m aware of has the same sense of progression as baseball does. Anyone for tennis? It does have _love_ anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/18 "2011-07-14T16:12:33Z")
Yeah, but Love is when you’re _not_ scoring. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/19 "2011-07-14T16:21:02Z")
Bunt. Bunt, bunt, bunt. Bunt. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979/20 "2011-07-14T16:31:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, but Love is when you’re _not_ scoring. So, it’s marriage? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-metaphors-for-sex-what-do-other-countries-use/588979.md?page=2)