I came across the Australian series Kath & Kim on Netflix and find it pretty funny. There are of course some references that I don’t really get because they’re Australian. One of the phrases that is used quite a bit is “hornbag”. Googling shows that it means “a sexually attractive person”. So if you called a woman a hornbag it’s a compliment?! It sounds awful. They also use the phrase, “hunk of spunk”. Apparently, that means “a gorgeous male specimen”. That sounds awful too.
I was under the impression that “hornbag” referred to a woman who was very strongly interested in finding a sexual partner. Any partner…sooner rather than later. No questions asked.
No clue about “hunk of spunk” but I wouldn’t take it kindly.
“Spunk” is complimentary; it refers to a sexually attractive person, usually male. “Hunk of spunk” is an emphatic version.
Thre’s probably no connection to the slang term for ejaculate, not least because the earliest cites refer to women as much as men. It more probably comes from an English/Scottish sense that was current in the 18th and 19th century in which “spunk” meant “spark, spirit, mettle, courage” and “man of spunk” meant a man of spirit or enthusiasm.
"Hornbag’ refers to women, in my observation. It means “attractive”, but the implication is that at least part of the attraction is sexual willingness or availability. The male equivalent is “horndog”. Both terms imply a kind of lewd admiration; if you wanted to criticise somebody for being promiscuous or indiscriminate you wouldn’t use these terms.
Well, American slang has “cheesecake”, “built like a brick shithouse”, “smoking”, “banging”, “feedbag material”, “rasp”, “box”, and other compliments meaning “attractive person” but certainly not sounding very complimentary in a literal sense.
If you’re familiar with a term you tend not to realize how weird or unappealing it might sound to someone who isn’t.
I don’t remember hearing the terms on Kath and Kim but I wondered based on the OP if it was meant to be objectifying. The terms imply attraction without being a real compliment, a bit like calling someone a “piece of ass.” Kimstu has some other great objectifying “compliments.”
Of course. Even back in my own distant youth, a “cheesecake photo” was standard slang for a pin-up picture of a sexy girl. And “built like a brick shithouse” obviously meant somebody with an outstanding physique: well-built. “He’s/she’s smoking”, short for “smoking hot”, or “banging” represent more recent but very well-established synonyms for attractiveness. For the newer terms I had to consult reliable sources among the youth population, but the internet confirms that the phrases “feedbag material”, “rasp” and “box” connote a complimentary assessment of physical appearance.
Yup, all of them sound kind of gross when decontextualized, but they are all sincerely used as compliments. Even “hunk” by itself is not a particularly complimentary-sounding word for a person: why are you saying he’s just a large piece or slab of material?
IIRC, Kim uses it of herself, to mean she is sexuslly both irresistible and voracious, usually in the hope it will reignite the interest of her dimwit husband. Or failing that, anyone.
