# Do Some African Men Have Penises So Long That They Tie Them In Knots To Walk?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 7, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490 "2004-09-07T15:13:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/21 "2004-09-08T00:03:29Z")
Well, I don’t know about freakishly elongated African penes, but I do know that if you do a [there was at least one African man who needed a wheelbarrow for his _huevos_](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=elephantitis). (Warning, GIS link TMI but should be SFW.)
Why this GIS also results in pictures of a Clydesdale and Kate Winslet, I am _not_ investigating…
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### Author:  [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/22 "2004-09-08T00:47:59Z")
I just think it’s funny that somebody from Gobbler’s Knob would ask about this. 😛
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/23 "2004-09-08T00:56:54Z")
> [@bughunter](#):
>
> Well, I don’t know about freakishly elongated African penes, but I do know that if you do a [there was at least one African man who needed a wheelbarrow for his _huevos_](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=elephantitis). (Warning, GIS link TMI but should be SFW.)
>
> Why this GIS also results in pictures of a Clydesdale and Kate Winslet, I am _not_ investigating…
You can get an even greater number of disgusting medical photos if you spell it right - elephantiasis, not elephantitis.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/24 "2004-09-08T01:39:48Z")
Oh man, do I need better reading glasses. My first thought on glancing at this was how in the heck does somebody tie a knot in a penny? And I didn’t even know they used pennies in Africa!
On to the question; I swear I remember seeing a photo of the phenomenon described in the OP in _Playboy_ magazine, probably in the 1970s, as that’s when most of my _Playboy_ consumption occurred. Their site is no help, though.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/25 "2004-09-08T01:46:53Z")
> [@bughunter](#):
>
> Well, I don’t know about freakishly elongated African penes, but I do know that if you do a [there was at least one African man who needed a wheelbarrow for his _huevos_](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=elephantitis). (Warning, GIS link TMI but should be SFW.)
>
> Why this GIS also results in pictures of a Clydesdale and Kate Winslet, I am _not_ investigating…
It’s actually _elephatiasis_–and BTW t turns out that the Elephant Man didn’t have it.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/26 "2004-09-08T03:22:54Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> It’s actually elephatiasis
Not according to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com):
> [@](#):
>
> 6 entries found for elephantiasis.
> el·e·phan·ti·a·sis
> Chronic, often extreme enlargement and hardening of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue, especially of the legs and external genitals, resulting from lymphatic obstruction and usually caused by infestation of the lymph glands and vessels with a filarial worm.
>
> [Latin elephantisis, from Greek : elephs, elephant-, elephant + -isis, -iasis.]
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/27 "2004-09-08T03:34:52Z")
I seem to recall a b&w poster from the 60s of an African tribesman standing, holding a spear, with his penis definately tied in a knot! Not a _complicated_ knot, to be sure, but a knot. This was before Photoshop. The tool had to be 14 inches longer, unknotted. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/28 "2004-09-08T05:51:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> This was before Photoshop.
But not before photo shops. Believe it or not, it was quite possible to manipulate images before computers, and it’s likewise possible to manipulate the scene you’re taking an image of. Prosthetics, maybe?
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/29 "2004-09-08T05:59:02Z")
It’s nice to know there may be men in Africa that can sympathize with my difficulties.
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### Author:  [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/30 "2004-09-08T06:02:56Z")
Here’s hoping that elephantiasis (or Lymphedema, the currently preferred term) does not become the topic of extended comic discourse, as I am afflicted with it, and it is NOT funny.
And, no, for the record, I do not have it in my scrotum, as I do not have a scrotum.
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### Author:  [@Amberlei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amberlei)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-african-men-have-penises-so-long-that-they-tie-them-in-knots-to-walk/263490/31 "2004-09-08T12:42:30Z")
Believe it or not, I did find a legitimate source backing this up. A review of Ever Since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality from this site:
[http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:0v4n\_JwMGP0J:www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/sosis/publications/PottsShortBREHB.pdf+anthropology+penis+knot&hl=en](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:0v4n_JwMGP0J:www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/sosis/publications/PottsShortBREHB.pdf+anthropology+penis+knot&hl=en) contains the following.
> [@](#):
>
> As throughout the book the“fantastic,” such as a picture of a Karamajong man whose penis is tied in a knot, is mixed with the more mundane facts of sexual selection, although little is actually mundane in this book.
And from this site, [http://www.sexualrecords.com/inquiries.html](http://www.sexualrecords.com/inquiries.html) which is less reputable, comes the following.
> [@](#):
>
> Starting at puberty, boys of the Karamojong people of northeastern Uganda start tying weights to the ends of their penis. When the boy becomes accustomed to the pain the weight is replaced with a heavier one, until eventually they’re carrying 20 pounds or more. By the time they’ve become an adult, their penis can easily measure 18 inches or more. Sounds great, but there’s a catch: what the boy gains in length it loses in girth, since the spongy erectile tissue that comprises the penis doesn’t grow.
And from [http://www.chiprowe.com/articles/moronpenis.html](http://www.chiprowe.com/articles/moronpenis.html) (Playboy Feb., 2001)
> [@](#):
>
> A few cultures, such as the Karamojong of northeastern Uganda, practice ritualistic penis stretching. Beginning at puberty, a Karamojong boy hangs circular stone disks from the tip of his penis. When he becomes accustomed to the pain, more disks are added. His penis swings like a pendulum. By the time he’s a teenager, he may carry as much as 20 pounds from his penis, which could measure 18 inches or longer. To avoid sitting on these taffylike appendages, Karamojong men tie their cocks into knots.
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