# johnson = dick origin **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969 "2003-12-31T17:47:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/1 "2003-12-31T17:47:20Z")
It seems to me that I first heard “johnson” as a slang term for “penis” sometime in the early to mid 80’s. Anybody know the origin? First popularized as an African American usage, but, beyond that, I don’t know. A quick search turns up a couple of statements that it comes from the sixties, when LBJ was president. People, particularly African Americans, thought Johnson was a dick, started using his last name as a synonym, and the usage stuck. Can anybody confirm or deny? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/2 "2003-12-31T18:01:09Z")
From [etymonline.com](http://etymonline.com) > [@](#): > > johnson - “penis,” 1863, perhaps related to British slang John Thomas, which has the same meaning (1887). ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/3 "2003-12-31T18:03:15Z")
Fro [english2american.com](http://english2american.com) > [@](#): > > John Thomas n. “John Thomas” is slang in the UK for one’s penis. The term derives from the name the leading man in D.H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover gave to his own appendage. The book was made famous by the obscenity trial it landed Penguin Books in during the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![hauss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5fc32e/32.png) [@hauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hauss)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/4 "2003-12-31T18:19:39Z")
Wasn’t it from Miami Vice - Don Johnson? Well, that’s when it became popular anyways… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/5 "2003-12-31T19:53:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > **People, particularly African Americans, thought Johnson was a dick** You claim LBJ, the president who signed the Civil Rights Act, and used his influence in Congress to get it passed, was disliked by African-Americans? So why did African-Americans vote so heavily for LBJ, and continue to vote solidly democratic up to the current day? I’d sure like to see some cite for this claim, because I really don’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/6 "2003-12-31T21:44:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by [t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net) \* > \*\*You claim LBJ, the president who signed the Civil Rights Act, and used his influence in Congress to get it passed, was disliked by African-Americans? So why did African-Americans vote so heavily for LBJ, and continue to vote solidly democratic up to the current day? > > I’d sure like to see some cite for this claim, because I really don’t believe it. \*\* Precisely why I was suspicious of it, and asking. I didn’t say I believed it - I was just quoting it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/7 "2003-12-31T23:51:57Z")
_Johnson_ to mean _penis_ in American English is cited multiply long before Lyndon became President. Since a term like that isn’t exactly something you use in polite society every day, it doesn’t appear in the average newspaper prior to the 1980’s. But it pre-dated Lyndon by a bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/8 "2004-01-02T01:45:33Z")
It wouldn’t make sense to pin the tail on Andrew Johnson either. He was Lincoln’s vice president. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/9 "2004-01-02T03:57:12Z")
While I completely agree that Andrew Johnson is not the origin of the term “johnson” on etymological grounds, I’d like to point out that just because he was Lincoln’s VP doesn’t mean that his policies were quite similar to Lincoln’s. Johnson vetoed major Reconstruction laws passed by the Republican Congress, such as the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act, and tried to block Congress’s plans for a swift Reconstruction in the South. Johnson was the only Southern senator who didn’t leave when the South seceded, and many of his major votes before the Civil War did anger the plantation owners, but he was, nonetheless, the only sitting Southern Senator. This geographic and sociocultural fact, more than any political stance, was why he was chosen for VP. Many felt that he was obstructing policies Lincoln’s administration would have instituted, and that he was otherwise biased towards the former authorities and practices of the Deep South. It doesn’t matter if these beliefs were factually justified. They would have been ample cause to coin a verbal insult I just don’t think that “johnson” was one of them. Perhaps the insults that did float around just didn’t survive. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/10 "2004-01-02T04:20:50Z")
Speaking of LBJ and penises: Is it true that he pulled his dick out in a staff meeting and said something along the lines of “Yea but I bet Mao’s got nuthing like this.” ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/11 "2004-01-03T07:53:55Z")
Well, what if I start calling mine a Bush? ---
**Author:** ![Bromley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/12 "2004-01-03T08:27:29Z")
**K.C.**. I’d assume that’s false until someone cites it 😃 . ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/13 "2004-01-03T12:48:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bromley \* > \*\*\*\*K.C.\*\*. I’d assume that’s false until someone cites it 😃 . \*\* Actually I did a little searching after I asked and found many references to, if not the specific circumstance, the generally exhibitionist behavior. Regarding a bio of LBJ: > [@](#): > > The most amusing collection of revelations here shows Johnson’s lack of modesty and his exhibitionist traits. Johnson, Caro reports, would routinely urinate in front of secretaries, force staff members to meet with him in the bathroom while he defecated, and sometimes proudly showed off his penis – which he nicknamed “Jumbo” – to embarrassed Senate colleagues. This is the Lyndon Johnson of Caro’s earlier works: earthy, profane, ambitious, overbearing, obsessive, petulant, cruel, and dishonest Had to clear my google search bar cache after that search. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/14 "2004-01-03T13:12:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hauss \* > \*\*Wasn’t it from Miami Vice - Don Johnson? Well, that’s when it became popular anyways… \*\* Dick not Don. ---
**Author:** ![FullGonzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9de053/32.png) [@FullGonzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FullGonzo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/15 "2020-04-24T17:12:22Z")
How about based on a man that sired 100-300 children? Sir William Johnson > **[Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Johnson,_1st_Baronet)** > > Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet (c. 1715 – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Navy officer Peter Warren, which was located in territory of the Mohawk, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League, or Haudenosaunee. Johnson learned the Mohawk language and Iroquois customs, and was appointed the British agent to the Iroquois. Because of his... ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/16 "2020-04-24T17:29:25Z")
Also in colloquial usage, John = toilet. I keep seeing portable toilets advertised as “rent-a-john”. Don’t know why the John family name is so maligned though. It is an old name, and some ancient John must have done something that really pissed off a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/17 "2020-04-24T17:39:18Z")
Why John (Thomas)? Why Willy, Dick, Percy, or any other common man’s name, for that matter? Is there ultimately any difference in origin between any of the names? > [@Monty Python](#): > > Isn’t it awfully nice to have a penis? > Isn’t it frightfully good to have a dong? > It’s swell to have a stiffy. > It’s divine to own a dick, > From the tiniest little tadger > To the world’s biggest prick. > So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas. > Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake, > Your piece of pork, your wife’s best friend, > Your Percy, or your cock. > You can wrap it up in ribbons. > You can slip it in your sock, > But don’t take it out in public, > Or they will stick you in the dock, > And you won’t come back. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/18 "2020-04-24T17:44:08Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Also in colloquial usage, John = toilet. I keep seeing portable toilets advertised as “rent-a-john”. Don’t know why the John family name is so maligned though. It is an old name, and some ancient John must have done something that really pissed off a lot of people. Also Jakes; plain Jack, on the other hand, is a sailor. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/19 "2020-04-24T18:17:17Z")
Alternative official song for the thread: the Fuzztones’ [“Johnson In A Headlock”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiviZCfOaDI&frags=pl%2Cwn). _She put my johnson in a headlock And now you know that ain’t right She’s got me goin’ off half-cocked, in the middle of the night_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969/20 "2020-04-24T22:35:38Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > Speaking of LBJ and penises: > > Is it true that he pulled his dick out in a staff meeting and said something along the lines of “Yea but I bet Mao’s got nuthing like this.” Robert Cano’s biographies of Johnson,described several incidents like this. Lyndon was always very fond of showing his Johnson. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnson-dick-origin/221969.md?page=2)