# In UK slang, what is a "bender?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401 "2011-01-12T23:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/21 "2011-01-13T20:06:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > A sausage of continental type, either naturally curved, or made so by a series of shallow transverse cuts along one side. ([Cite](http://wimpyblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/bender-in-a-bun/)) Oh yes! I wonder if the Wimpy Big Bender still exists? ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/22 "2011-01-13T20:20:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > No idea, but it’s worth noting that (as well as meaning heterosexual) ‘straight’, in UK slang, also means honest or upstanding (or sometimes honest and upstanding to the point of being prim). Yeah, going ‘straight’ has similar connotations to being ‘bent’ as far as criminality is concerned too. I figured it must have some sort of connection, because other derogatory slang like ‘queer’ has connotations of not being quite right, a bit strange. Or not ‘normal’, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/23 "2011-01-13T20:34:27Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Oh yes! I wonder if the Wimpy Big Bender still exists? “This is the way the world ends: not with a banger, but a Wimpy.” T.S., Eliot! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/24 "2011-01-13T22:53:06Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > “This is the way the world ends: not with a banger, but a Wimpy.” > > T.S., Eliot! Ow. ---
**Author:** ![Elvis\_Chimney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/50afbb/32.png) [@Elvis\_Chimney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvis_Chimney)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/25 "2011-01-14T14:52:06Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Oh yes! I wonder if the Wimpy Big Bender still exists? Ah yes! The ads for the Wimpy “Big Bender in a Bun” used to cause me no end of amusement when I was younger and less mature. Do Wimpy even exist any more? I can’t remember the last time I saw one. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/26 "2011-01-14T15:05:47Z")
> [@Elvis\_Chimney](#): > > Do Wimpy even exist any more? I can’t remember the last time I saw one. Yep, at least in this neck of the woods (south east), and they still sell Benders. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/27 "2011-01-14T18:29:41Z")
It meant that [The Sun](http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/1066171/Derren-Brown-Sexuality-Gay.html) newspaper in the UK couldn’t resist running the headline “Mind Bender” when Derren Brown came out. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/28 "2011-01-14T18:35:25Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The OED says that _bender_, in the homosexual sense, is “orig. _U.S._ now chiefly _Brit._” and it has cites starting from 1965 (US) and 1977 (UK). Apparently in the US it referred specifically to a man who took the receptive role in anal intercourse (possibly because he bends over?) but by the time it got to the UK it seems to have broadened to refer generally to homosexual men. I believe the accepted term in the U.S. is now _catcher_ (q.v., _pitcher_). ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401/29 "2011-01-15T02:55:08Z")
it’s so weird that bender means both homosexual AND alcoholic binge. you’d figure the natural progression of the brits using “bender” if they were to adopt the American use would be to have “going on a bender” to mean “going on a homosexual sex binge” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-uk-slang-what-is-a-bender/567401.md?page=1)