# "cum" and porn **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883 "2003-06-23T22:24:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/1 "2003-06-23T22:24:10Z")
How it that the misspelling “cum” (for “come”) has become so ubiquitous in the porn industry? It’s not like there’s a standards body or anything, in the style of the Academie Francaise. The only “official” use of “cum” I know of is when it’s used as “with” from Latin (cum laude). ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/2 "2003-06-23T22:27:49Z")
“Become” since when? I remember (vaguely) seeing the word spelled “cum” on the back of a packet of condoms maybe 10 or 15 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/3 "2003-06-23T22:59:33Z")
It was probably used because ‘come’ has other meanings. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/4 "2003-06-23T23:04:36Z")
Come to think of it, ‘cum’ has other meanings too, but they are more obscure. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/5 "2003-06-24T00:15:18Z")
Right, I realize this isn’t a recent phenomenon and I know the logical reason for it - I’m just wondered how the ‘meme’ has been vectored. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/6 "2003-06-24T00:30:11Z")
It’s a handy (ahem) term to replace the ambiguous “come” and the cumbersome (and gender-specific) “ejaculate”. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/7 "2003-06-24T01:44:46Z")
I think it dates to well back of 1980. Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noise” came out in 1983. Not that the song really uses the word in the proper context, but my older sister used to tease me that “cum” meant something really dirty but would never told me what exactly… ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/8 "2003-06-24T01:53:31Z")
To be frank, I’ve never seen ‘come’ used as a noun and rarely as a verb in an ejaculatory context… before my time, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/9 "2003-06-24T02:12:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fiddlesticks \* > \*\*I think it dates to well back of 1980. Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noise” came out in 1983. Not that the song really uses the word in the proper context, but my older sister used to tease me that “cum” meant something really dirty but would never told me what exactly… \*\* _sigh_ And Slade did the original ten years earlier (and spelled it the same way). I swear, kids today got no sense of history. Slade was a GREAT band. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/10 "2003-06-24T03:40:08Z")
Dan Savage wrote on this exact point, I wish I could find the quote - but he gets really irritated with the ambiguity of spelling it “come,” and insists on “cum.” I’m with him - only a prat uses “cum” in the Latin sense anymore, and when the language (courtesy porn marketers) gives a tool (ahem) for clarity why not use it? ---
**Author:** ![Destination\_Unknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@Destination\_Unknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Destination_Unknown)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/11 "2003-06-24T03:47:06Z")
ejaculate is not gender or sex specific. Both men and women have ejaculation of fluid during the sexual process. ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/12 "2003-06-24T04:16:36Z")
…Not every woman. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/13 "2003-06-24T07:49:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Destination Unknown \* > **ejaculate is not gender or sex specific.** Nor is “cum”. All the porn I’ve seen uses it for both male and female ejaculate. By the way, in this context, what’s the difference between “gender specific” and “sex specific”? ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/14 "2003-06-24T12:58:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Freiheit \* > \*\*…Not every woman. \*\* …And not every man. I mean, the _really good_ ones, well, you know … ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/15 "2003-06-24T13:51:01Z")
Speaking of the latin “cum,” on an e-mail list that I subscribe to, someone said he was going to do some electronics work in his “garage cum workshop.” I replied with “what the hell are you doing in there?” This is a case where the hyphens make all the difference: garage-cum-workshop is what he meant. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/16 "2003-06-24T13:58:41Z")
Well, we have also: cum laude cum grano salis otium cum dignitate Looks latin to me. Matter of fact, it is akin to latin ‘com-’ ---
**Author:** ![ZomZom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zomzom/32/5620_2.png) [@ZomZom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZomZom)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/17 "2003-06-24T14:14:06Z")
I used to take the Capital Express from Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD. After taking your ticket, they write the abreviation for the city you are traveling to on a strip of paper and place it above your seat, (i.e. PIT for Pittsburgh). Yup, I always had ‘CUM’ over my head. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cum-and-porn/183883/18 "2003-06-24T16:05:32Z")
I am sure if this thread was entitled “origin of spelling of ‘cum’ for orgasm” a bunch of logophiles (word lovers) would be all over this… I think this alternate spelling has been around for years. I went to check the poet **e.e. cummings** ’ (heh. you said “cum”) poem “May I feel said He”, but it lists the last stanza as: (cccome?said he ummm said she you’re divine!said he (you are Mine said she) so you have “come” and “umm” close by, but no cigar. In [Roger’s Profanisaurus](http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus/propagesA_Z/page_c.htm), you find: > [@](#): > > cum 1. v. The mis-spelling of come commonly used by the authors of reader’s letters in jazz magazines (qv) to describe male ejaculation or its (bell) end product. Which suggest hep-cat/hipster language from the 20’s of last century or so…