# Is there a word for performing cunnilingus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103 "2003-07-22T07:40:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/21 "2003-07-23T01:17:09Z")
I believe the French expression for it is “faire minnette” - I read that a LONG time ago in “Penthouse”. Online translators interpret “minnette” as “minnette” (NO help there). From what they said in Penthouse (a bastion of journalistic integrity), the word “minnette” is an extremely feminized spelling of the French word for cat or kitten. That would make a **lot** of sense **except** for the fact that the French words for cat and kitten are chat and chaton respectively. The word minette (note the single ‘n’) translates to iron ore so the heck with that spelling. Oh and the word “faire” is the French verb to make or do. Yes, I spent some time on this, but considering the subject matter, it was time well spent - a story that had to be told. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_Amundsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@Brad\_Amundsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Amundsen)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/22 "2003-07-23T01:31:39Z")
To quote the Greatest Rapper of all Kid Rock Yodeling In The Valley Yodeladyhoo!!! ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/23 "2003-07-23T01:34:31Z")
Doesn’t anyone **go downtown** anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/24 "2003-07-23T01:44:38Z")
“Second floor . . . Hardware, children’s wear, ladies’ lingerie . . . Oh! Good morning Mister Tyler–going . . . _down_?” He-he-he-hoo-hooo! ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/25 "2003-07-23T06:26:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*‘Performing’ always makes me think there should be a drumroll and the announcement “and for my next trick…” \*\* _There once was a man named Charles Mingus Whose girlfriend was sucking his dingus. He played “Eat That Chicken” While gettin’ a lickin’, And also performed Cunnilingus._ ---
**Author:** ![julian64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@julian64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/julian64)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/26 "2003-07-23T10:25:16Z")
Regarding the following: \ From what they said in Penthouse (a bastion of journalistic integrity), the word “minnette” is an extremely feminized spelling of the French word for cat or kitten. That would make a lot of sense except for the fact that the French words for cat and kitten are chat and chaton respectively. \ The French word for a female cat is “chatte”, which also means “pussy” in both its English senses. Another slang word in French for pussy is “moule” (mussel) - and if you’ve ever opened up a mussel and eaten it (so to speak), you can see what the French are on about. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/27 "2003-07-23T10:31:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by julian64 \* > \*\*Regarding the following: > > \ > From what they said in Penthouse (a bastion of journalistic integrity), the word “minnette” is an extremely feminized spelling of the French word for cat or kitten. That would make a lot of sense except for the fact that the French words for cat and kitten are chat and chaton respectively. > \ > > The French word for a female cat is “chatte”, which also means “pussy” in both its English senses. Another slang word in French for pussy is “moule” (mussel) - and if you’ve ever opened up a mussel and eaten it (so to speak), you can see what the French are on about. \*\* True, but the word “Minette” (one “n”) a la “faire la minette” comes from the word “minou” - meaning “pussy(cat)”. Therefore the deminutive feminine would be “minette”… Et voila… ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/28 "2003-07-23T11:48:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolf\_meister \* > \*\*I believe the French expression for it is “faire minnette” - \*\* OK, now the Russian makes more sense…I never could figure out where it came from, but basically it’s “minette” spoken with a Russian accent. Must have come into the language under Peter the Great or something (no pun intended). Now why the hell is there no Russian etymological sex dictionary? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/29 "2003-07-23T12:48:10Z")
“Whistling through the wheat fields” “Bushman of the Kalahari” and the just plain old, “Giving Head” (yep, applies to a cunning linguist, too.) [credit to “The Sopranos: Boca”] ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/30 "2003-07-24T02:15:41Z")
Thanks to Julian, Eva and Tarantula for all that etymological research !! Good work folks !! ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/31 "2003-07-24T08:00:04Z")
My favorite euphemisms… “Beating up the little man in the boat…” “Talking to the canoe driver…” “Chatting with Georgia O’Keefe…” ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/32 "2003-07-24T10:16:22Z")
How about “fressing?” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/33 "2003-07-24T10:25:09Z")
A female friend of mine was walking down the street a few years ago, and two 7-to-10-year-old boys shouted across the street to her: “Here missus! Do you want a lick-out?” ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/34 "2003-07-24T12:02:29Z")
\*\* … two 7-to-10-year-old boys shouted across the street to her: “Here missus! Do you want a lick-out?”\*\* :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/35 "2003-07-24T12:09:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skeptic\_ev \* > :eek: Dublin is home to the “gurrier”, a unique kind of child who combines superlative disrespect with WAY too much knowledge for one of his age. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/36 "2003-07-24T12:12:59Z")
I once heard a “Here Missus ! Show us your flaps…” Same kids ? ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/37 "2003-07-24T13:56:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Catalyst \* > \*\*Hm, neat. How’s that pronounced? Specifically, is the -ue at the end pronounced? \*\* As in “cunniling you” ? 😃 For the non Dublinese, the “flaps” mentioned in the above post are “piss-flaps” … I think you can work out what they were referring to. God I hate that phrase _shudder_. ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/38 "2003-07-24T17:28:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Catalyst \* > \*\*Hm, neat. How’s that pronounced? Specifically, is the -ue at the end pronounced? \*\* Poor **Catalyst** , still hasn’t been answered. Too busy making jokes… 😃 Just guessing, I’d say pronounce the whole “gue” part like you would in the word epilogue. I’ve got no pronunciation sites/cites, but try these on for size. [Entymology.](http://www.etymonline.com/c11etym.htm) Check out the quote! [Nice discussion.](http://uber.nu/archive/2002/10/01) ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/39 "2003-07-24T20:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jake4 \* > \*\*Poor **Catalyst** , still hasn’t been answered. Too busy making jokes… 😃 > > Just guessing, I’d say pronounce the whole “gue” part like you would in the word epilogue. > \*\* Yeah, that’s my guess too, but three years of Spanish classes kept me from ruling out other options. In any case, it is probably pronounced like one would pronounce _epilogue_ or _meringue_. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103/40 "2003-12-15T06:42:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Entymology. Check out the quote! Rarely does a conflation of etymology and entomology give me such a cringing chill. It’s a context thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-performing-cunnilingus/190103.md?page=3)