# Foreign language Dopers: What foodstuff is used as a slang word for testicles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540 "2012-09-12T20:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/1 "2012-09-12T20:56:36Z")
This was a topic of discussion today: Nuts in English vs. huevos (eggs) in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/2 "2012-09-12T20:59:02Z")
Eggs in Russian and Hebrew ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/3 "2012-09-12T21:10:37Z")
Jeez Louise, **one** response and Hebrew is already covered?! :mad: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/4 "2012-09-12T21:10:44Z")
Doesn’t the word avocados mean testicles in Mayan or Aztec or something? I’m too lazy to look it up. Okay, so I looked it up. It’s testicles in Nahuatl. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/5 "2012-09-12T21:22:12Z")
Eggs in Mandarin ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/6 "2012-09-12T21:23:11Z")
Welsh: _eirin_ “plums” or, sometimes, _eirin blewog_ (hairy plums / peaches). Peaches are usually _eirin gwlanog_ (woolly plums) but can also be _eirin blewog_. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Steele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecae2f/32.png) [@Lance\_Steele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Steele)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/7 "2012-09-12T21:35:23Z")
Eier (eggs) in German as well. Seems to be a common one, though kind of ironic. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/8 "2012-09-12T21:44:06Z")
It hints both at their shape and their, um, fragility. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/9 "2012-09-13T14:06:03Z")
> [@Lance\_Steele](#): > > Eier (eggs) in German as well. Seems to be a common one, though kind of ironic. “Eier” is the most common, but we also call them “Nüsse” (nuts) sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/10 "2012-09-13T14:14:37Z")
Eggs in Hindi too, “ande” or “unde”. (Transliteration is hard and stupid.) BTW this is why I think it’s sooooo stupid when someone is tough to say they have balls. Balls are weak and fragile. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/11 "2012-09-13T14:21:20Z")
Catalan: also eggs (_ous_). In Spanish sometimes we say that something will be done “because my eggs say so”. I’ve been known to remind a guy who’d claimed we were going to be doing things his way and not mine that “the cock has two eggs but the hen has millions” (and yes, we did do things my way). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/12 "2012-09-13T14:22:26Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > BTW this is why I think it’s sooooo stupid when someone is tough to say they have balls. Balls are weak and fragile. Not having balls is meant to say that the guy is a woman. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fragile nature of the little guys. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/13 "2012-09-13T14:23:36Z")
> [@Lance\_Steele](#): > > Eier (eggs) in German as well. Seems to be a common one, though kind of ironic. My urologist told me that if you were to look at a human testicle in its natural state, it would look something like a boiled egg (without the shell). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/14 "2012-09-13T14:32:59Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Not having balls is meant to say that the guy is a woman. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fragile nature of the little guys. Because being a woman is baaaaaaad. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/15 "2012-09-13T19:02:01Z")
There’s also [Rocky Mountain oysters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_oysters) in English - testicles eaten as food, not just a food name for them. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/16 "2012-09-13T19:39:52Z")
In Norwegian: Occasionally the nuts, but it’s not all that common. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/17 "2012-09-13T19:47:17Z")
Eiers (eggs) in Afrikaans. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/18 "2012-09-13T19:58:05Z")
Nuts (noten) in dutch as well. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/19 "2012-09-13T23:38:03Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > BTW this is why I think it’s sooooo stupid when someone is tough to say they have balls. Balls are weak and fragile. I believe it was Betty White who said, “Why do people say ‘grow a pair of balls’? Balls hurt like hell when they get hit. People should say ‘grow a vagina’. Those things can really take a pounding!” ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540/20 "2012-09-14T00:12:19Z")
No food-related terms for it in Japanese as far as I know. Sort of related: there are a couple of English words that are derived from testicles: _[Avocado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado#Etymology)_: “…originally comes from the Nahuatl word _ahuácatl_, which means ‘testicle’.” _[Orchid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado#Etymology):_ “…comes from the Greek ὄρχις (órkhis), literally meaning ‘testicle’, because of the shape of the root.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-foodstuff-is-used-as-a-slang-word-for-testicles/634540.md?page=2)