# Getting to first base in other cultures **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833 "2021-05-24T20:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/1 "2021-05-24T20:11:02Z")
Meandering through XKCD I came across [this gem](https://xkcd.com/540/) and I got to wondering, are there similar metaphors for high schoolers in cultures not interested in baseball? I mean, in a soccer-oriented country there’s always _Sc-o-o-o-ore!!_ but that’ll come up maybe once in your high school career, if you’re lucky. What do you use to euphemise all the canoodling around that happens before that? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/2 "2021-05-24T20:45:19Z")
> **[Sex Idioms From Around the World](https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/sex-idioms-around-the-world/)** > > See how sex translates in 11 different languages with these illustrated phrases: ---
**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:** [May 24, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/3 "2021-05-24T20:51:58Z")
With cultural contamination there may be now, but when I was in high school in 80s South Africa, we did not use baseball or any other metaphors. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/4 "2021-05-24T21:09:56Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > any other metaphors Really? So it was “I fingered Susie Jenkins on Friday night” or “I got to play with her nipples”? ---
**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:** [May 24, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/5 "2021-05-24T21:13:43Z")
It sounded sexier in Afrikaans ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/6 "2021-05-24T21:14:21Z")
Fair enough. It’s sometimes shocking to hear how different cultures can be. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/7 "2021-05-24T21:15:40Z")
Interesting site, **Omar** but the entries there are all active verbs. I was thinking more of the breathless inquiries by folk who have not yet done much, if anything. “So, after the prom was over did you [euphemism] (with) her?” ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/8 "2021-05-24T21:20:27Z")
What about non-USA cultures where baseball is popular? Do they use the same metaphors in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Japan? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/9 "2021-05-24T22:25:05Z")
Long ago in Australia, it was just ‘petting’ and ‘heavy petting’ and ‘I had my hand…’ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/10 "2021-05-24T22:26:27Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Interesting site, **Omar** but the entries there are all active verbs. I was thinking more of the breathless inquiries by folk who have not yet done much, if anything. > > “So, after the prom was over did you [euphemism] (with) her?” - Never date a veterinary student. People might misunderstand when you say you euphemised her. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/11 "2021-05-24T22:42:18Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Never date a veterinary student. People might misunderstand when you say you euphemised her. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Winner! 🏆 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/12 "2021-05-24T23:09:35Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Never date a veterinary student. People might misunderstand when you say you euphemised her. It seems to me if you date a veterinary student _you’re_ the one in danger of being euphemised. “Hey! can I practice what I learned in school this week?” “Ummm.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/13 "2021-05-24T23:10:42Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@running\_coach](#): > > > > Never date a veterinary student. People might misunderstand when you say you euphemised her. > > It seems to me if you date a veterinary student _you’re_ the one in danger of being euphemised. > > “Hey! can I practice what I learned in school this week?” > > “Ummm.” - Not euphemised. Neutered or spayed. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/14 "2021-05-25T08:01:16Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > “So, after the prom was over did you [euphemism] (with) her?” Not directly on topic, but you may be interested to know that prom itself is a distinctly American thing. Since moving to Europe, my wife and I have been asked more than once if the whole prom phenomenon seen in American movies actually happens or is a Hollywood fiction. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/15 "2021-05-25T08:21:02Z")
It’s creeping into British schools now, along with 6 year olds ‘graduating’ in full cap and gown. It makes me very glad I left school (we don’t ‘graduate’ from school) a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/16 "2021-05-25T08:27:18Z")
Most non-American cultures are not prudish enough to have to invent a euphemism for a kiss even amongst friends. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/17 "2021-05-25T12:30:06Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Do they use the same metaphors in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Japan? Not in Japan. I was told as a 20 year old that they used A, B, C. Checking, it was apparently used then but my friend in his 50s said who know what “them kids” say these days. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/18 "2021-05-25T12:48:01Z")
Direct kiss and tell was considered crass when I was in high school. It was more along the lines of: “So. Sally. Friday night. [questioning look]?” [Big grin, raised eyebrows] “Really?” [smug nodding] “Woah!” ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/19 "2021-05-25T13:01:10Z")
So what are the bases, anyway? What’s first base? Just snogging? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833/20 "2021-05-25T13:07:31Z")
I don’t recall anyone using any euphemisms for anything except ‘going all the way’ in the UK. We just snogged and groped, if we talked about it at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-to-first-base-in-other-cultures/942833.md?page=2)