Because we have a lot of time on our hands and it’s just the way things go sometime, by brother and I were musing the other day about the inequity in the naming of certain … uhm … body parts. We agree that the clinical names for female genitalia actually sound feminine – onomatopaeic, as it were. But boy bits, well, not so much. Oh, we don’t have a problem with most of them. I mean, “scrotum” is especially appropriate. But the main one, which we know has a Latin etymology and probably sounded quite appropriate to the ancient Roman ear, just isn’t … well, MASCULINE enough. Sounds kind of … diminutive, if ya’ know what I mean.
So we’re trying to come up with a new name for the guy. It has to sound clinical (no slang terms, please) and it has to sound masculine. Well, okay, you can have a little fun with it.
It’s never bugged me, but I see what you’re getting at. The slang terms for it are generally good, though - they get the tone right. So let’s adapt one of those, Germanify it for manliness, and you can reach out and say hello to your…
You know, since the OP calls this “It”, I can’t help thinking about how that meaning gives new interpretation to book and movie titles:
**Stephen King’s “It”
It! – The Terror from Beyond Space
It Came From Outer Space
My 2 year old cousin calls it his “yang.” I think it’s a rather elegant choice. Not *quite * as crass as “wang” but still contains the essence of genitals.
That’s what I’m saying–not bad for a toddler. Somehow I don’t think he took ancient philosophy into account, though. I didn’t even think of that–it is probably too disrespectful.
Plus, it leaves out the whole other function, but you’re on the right track. Hmm… maybe pregnator?
I kind of liked “phallus”, but my colleagues in the English grad classes I’m taking tell me the phallus isn’t the symbol of the penis, but the other way around. Still, I like phallus. Or lingam. I like that one, too.