# Hung like a mule? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003 "2001-07-10T23:18:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/1 "2001-07-10T23:18:39Z")
I was watching David Letterman last night, and his stooge announcer Alan Kalter boasted that he was “hung like a mule”. Now I’m sure I have never heard “hung” used in that context on broadcast TV before, so a small taboo may have been broken there. But what I am really wondering is would a mule be hung at all? They are sterile right, so why would a mule need a penis for? Other than taking an occasional leak. Or do they have a full set of equipment? Do they attempt to have sex, or are they celibate? I have no mule friends, nor have I ever saw fit to rent “mule porn” videos, so I am clueless here. Would a mule be hung at all, or was that an oxymoronic comment that went over my head? ---
**Author:** ![seawitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@seawitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seawitch)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/2 "2001-07-11T00:39:27Z")
Mules are, indeed, sterile. However, this does not imply sexless - they come in both male and female varieties, both fully equipped. The gun is in place, but it’s shooting blanks. Yep, they have sex - and the equipment itself is impressively horselike. Dang. I knew growing up on a farm would come in handy some day. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/3 "2001-07-11T00:49:30Z")
In response, a general question: When was the last time a human male used his nipples to nurse an infant? A more specific response: I’ve never blown a mule. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/4 "2001-07-11T01:01:39Z")
\ [mechanic voice] “Looks like you blew a seal”[/mechanic voice] Penguin: “No, I just had a glass of milk with lunch.” \ Thanks, **seawitch**. That’s what’s great about the SD. Real-life experience. ---
**Author:** ![Azazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Azazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azazel)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/5 "2001-07-11T01:05:03Z")
Count me among the millions who mistakenly believed that mules had no sex organs at all. I thought Kalter’s braggadocious statement was funny because of that. Here’s a pretty informative (Google-found) site on mules. [http://cafnr.missouri.edu/mule/quiz.htm](http://cafnr.missouri.edu/mule/quiz.htm) Sorry, couldn’t find any mule porn. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/6 "2001-07-11T02:07:46Z")
Strikes me that “hung like a mule” is a pretty common colloquialism. If I had to complete the sentence “hung like a [blank],” mule is the first thing that leaps to mind. ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/7 "2001-07-11T02:13:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by johnson \* > \*\*Strikes me that “hung like a mule” is a pretty common colloquialism. If I had to complete the sentence “hung like a [blank],” mule is the first thing that leaps to mind. \*\* Thats ironic, because **johnson** is the often first word that enters my mind when the subject pops up… ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/8 "2001-07-11T02:16:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Thats ironic, because **johnson** is the often first word that enters my mind when the subject pops up… > \*\* I meant often the first…or the first that often…well English is not my strong suit. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/9 "2001-07-11T02:37:56Z")
**johnson** in the interest of research, what part of what country were you raised in? And in what type of surroundings? Farm? etc. Were mules a big part of your life? Most people these days don’t have close ties to mules(nor to horses, but they encounter horses more frequently). ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/10 "2001-07-11T02:44:28Z")
Suburbia, **Samclem** , of the mid-Atlantic variety. And **jaimest** , since English is not your first language, are you sure you meant to say _when the subject **pops up** _? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dog\_Wonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@Dog\_Wonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog_Wonder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/11 "2001-07-11T02:53:37Z")
That was a stunt penis. It’s all done with computer-generated effects. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/12 "2001-07-11T05:24:36Z")
I’m inclined to say “Hung like a yak”. (From a MAD magazine spoof of the Letterman show, IIRC) ---
**Author:** ![Kaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/13 "2001-07-11T05:56:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by johnson \* > \*\*Strikes me that “hung like a mule” is a pretty common colloquialism. If I had to complete the sentence “hung like a [blank],” mule is the first thing that leaps to mind. \*\* …squirrel is the first that pops into my mind. [sub]Was that out loud?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/14 "2001-07-11T06:36:49Z")
Well so what? A mule has maybe a two-foot protuberance when fully tumescent - but then Frances weighs in at what? Half a ton? Can anyone post-in with a better penis-to-total body mass ratio example from the animal kingdom (my WAG - seahorses) MY funny horse penis story: in 1987 I was at the San Diego zoo. The Prezvalsky’s horse was standing on a grassy rise, strong, long and black-peened, showing it off to to successive waves of shepherded school-groups and hand-in-hand couples until a large square gentleman (the living double of Brian Dennehy, for your visualization) stopped and placed arms akimbo and stared him down. The man stood his ground as the horse twitched its neck and humbly folded his tents, and so ended my reminder of the of the Scots Presbyterian minister’s decription of his own sermons: “long and vigorous - like the penis of a jackass!” (This same minister published, with the aid of an American psychotic, the 1st ed. of the Oxford English Dictionary) ---
**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/15 "2001-07-11T07:17:44Z")
I heard fleas had the biggest shlong to body ratio in the animal kingdom. Hung like a flea? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/16 "2001-07-11T10:07:47Z")
I have photos of some barnacles breeding. Barnacle is about the size of your thumbnail. Male organ protrudes about 15 cms (umm… call it 6 inches). But all it does it wave it around, like the aquatic version of a flasher with a trenchcoat. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/17 "2001-07-11T12:17:40Z")
OMG… a coworker e-mailed me a video of “mule porn”. It seemed strangely staged, but a mule was chasing around this field hand who, for some reason, had his pants undone. The mule was… ::looking down:: … average. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/18 "2001-07-11T12:24:39Z")
Jacks (males) and jennies (female) are sterile, but you better believe they have sex organs. My great-uncle worked with a mule team up into the 1970s (Bill was the jack and Fanny was the jenny). Mules make very good “watch dogs” (as do geese and guinea fowl), and are quite bright. Their reputation for stubborness is only partially deserved - if they won’t do something you are asking of them, its because they have a “reason” - stop and won’t go further in the field? there’s a snake or yellow jacket’s nest ahead. Stop work and head for the shade? - it must be lunch time or they’re getting too hot. Hung? You bet, but not as impressively as the draft horses that lived across the road where I grew up. Now those boys were endowed. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/19 "2001-07-11T15:00:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*In response, a general question: When was the last time a human male used his nipples to nurse an infant?[/B According to some whack job. This happens all the time. [Link](http://unassistedchildbirth.com/milkmen.htm) ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003/20 "2001-07-11T23:24:13Z")
In response to **Slithy Tove** ’s inquiry, > [@](#): > > Can anyone post-in with a better penis-to-total body mass ratio example from the animal kingdom (my WAG - seahorses) [http://sexualrecords.com/](http://sexualrecords.com/) [quote] Whale penises, called dorks (yes, when called a dork in grade school you were actually being compared to a whale schlong), are the largest in the world, the blue whale being the champ with phalli approximately 10 ft. long and 1 ft. in diameter… If you measure as a percentage of body length things are a little different. Goose barnacles, with inch-and-a-half-long appendages, rate about 150%. Unbeatable, you think, until you learn that a rare species of Alpine banana slugs (Ariolimax dolichophallus) measure 6-inches long and possess 32.5-inch tumescences, or 542% times their body length. Incredible… I don’t know what their sources were. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hung-like-a-mule/72003.md?page=2)