# It's Greek to Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2001, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934 "2001-03-14T12:33:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/1 "2001-03-14T12:33:58Z")
Why is anal sex referred to as “Greek”? Someone recently told me it was because it was used as a form of birth control by Greek women. But I always assumed it had something to do with homosexual male behavior. I couldn’t find anything about it in Cecil’s archives and an internet search turned up plenty of information on anal sex, but…well…you can imagine what kind of information it was. Similarly, why do we call it “French kissing”? Were the French the first to do this? Somehow, I doubt it. -L ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/2 "2001-03-14T12:35:42Z")
Oh…and if a Mod could please, PLEASE capitalize “greek” in my subject line I would be eternally grateful. God I’m a dork this morning. I’m hoping someone can help me before I’m humiliated in front of the Teeming Millions. -L [Gotcha covered. -manhattan] [Edited by manhattan on 03-14-2001 at 12:55 PM] ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/3 "2001-03-14T12:41:41Z")
I believe it is because there was (is?) a custom amongst Greek girls that if they only engaged in **anal** sex before getting married, they were stil technically _virgins_ on their wedding day (important in Greece). Why do you think the Greeks march first at the Olympics? Coz nobody is game to march in front of them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/4 "2001-03-14T12:56:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SexyWriter \* > \*\*\“greek” \ dork this morning. I’m hoping someone can help me before I’m humiliated in front of the Teeming Millions. > > -L \*\* Humiliation and Greek don’t _have_ to go together 🙂 I heard that too. I think it has something to do with preserving the hymen. No cites. ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/5 "2001-03-14T13:00:59Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by dustMagnate \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Humiliation and Greek don’t _have_ to go together 🙂 I heard that too. I think it has something to do with preserving the hymen. No cites. \*\* And that must have been a peculiarly Greek custom? Then why did I always think it had to do with some level of acceptability of homosexual sex in Greek culture? Hmm…no telling where I got **that** from. Anyway, what about “french kissin”? Got a witty answer for that one? -L ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/6 "2001-03-14T13:10:12Z")
WAG would be c. WW2, liberation of Paris. Maybe WW1, but the idea of 20th C. American servicemen and their French maids. Or maybe Ben Franklin started it. I always heard French kissing described as ‘with tongues’. Saw a picture of a very old mural in India with a ‘daisy chain’ of monks, glans-to-anal-pore going at it several dozen strong. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/7 "2001-03-14T13:16:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dustMagnate \* > \*\*Saw a picture of a very old mural in India with a ‘daisy chain’ of monks, glans-to-anal-pore going at it several dozen strong. Wow. \*\* So maybe we should call it, “Indian”? I’m not buying the french maid thing. Nice try though 🙂 -L ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/8 "2001-03-14T13:30:28Z")
Just don’t call it late, for dinner 😉 . Considering the anatomical proximity I think it is safe to say that it is not uniquely Greek culturally, or even uniquely human. Saw a really bad vietnamese postcard of a monkey and a duck. Grainy B&W, that was one determined primate. You might consider calling it ‘chimp’. ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/9 "2001-03-14T13:37:13Z")
dustMagnate, I want to know where you’ve been getting your porn. You have very…umm…interesting taste. -L ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/10 "2001-03-14T13:42:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SexyWriter \* > \*\*dustMagnate, I want to know where you’ve been getting your porn. You have very…umm…interesting taste. > > -L \*\* Indian mural: some art book. Vietnamese postcard: friends father was in Vietnam in the early seventies. Art, not porn 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/11 "2001-03-14T14:43:24Z")
I can explain it but only in person. 🙂 Really it is required in a thread like this. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/12 "2001-03-14T16:47:53Z")
**dustMagnate** : > [@](#): > > Indian mural: some art book. > Vietnamese postcard: friends father was in Vietnam in the early seventies. > > Art, not porn 🙂 Sure, sure, it’s “art.” We’ve heard that line before. Try getting an NEA grant, you pervert. [sub](Could you please email me the title?)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/13 "2001-03-15T02:14:41Z")
My humble thanks to the mod who took time out of their busy life to fix my subject line. Now the world sees me as much less idiotic 🙂 -L ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/14 "2001-03-15T05:42:48Z")
I always thought saying “it’s all Greek to me” just meant you didn’t understand something. I’ve never heard it used exclusively for anal sex. ---
**Author:** ![ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/15 "2001-03-15T12:24:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > \*\*I always thought saying “it’s all Greek to me” just meant you didn’t understand something. I’ve never heard it used exclusively for anal sex. \*\* Umm…right. They’re two separate uses of the word. I’m asking about one in particular…you know…the one in which people refer to anal sex as “Greek” style. -L ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/16 "2001-03-15T15:15:35Z")
I’ll never forget my high school history class where a teacher, drawing battle diagrams on the chalkboard, inadvertently told the class that the Greeks won the naval battle of Salamis because they were willing and able to go up the rear. We lost it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-greek-to-me/57934/17 "2001-03-15T19:46:15Z")
So it doesn’t have anything to do with “Greeks” in college (i.e. fraternities and sororities)? 😉