# Porn or Porno? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961 "2011-02-28T19:52:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/1 "2011-02-28T19:52:56Z")
Which term do you use to describe pornography? To me, “Porno” sounds quaintly anachronistic, like a flashback to the 70’s. “Let’s watch a porno!” just makes me giggle. PTF ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/2 "2011-02-28T19:57:54Z")
I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Why\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@The\_Why\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Why_Bird)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/3 "2011-02-28T20:21:58Z")
‘porno’ refers to a single movie; as in ‘she appeared in a porno in 2001’. Porn refers to a non-specific quantity of pornography as in ‘there is some porn on his computer’. You can have one porno, and some porn, but not one porn and some porno. I hope that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/4 "2011-02-28T22:19:24Z")
> [@The\_Why\_Bird](#): > > ‘porno’ refers to a single movie; as in ‘she appeared in a porno in 2001’. Porn refers to a non-specific quantity of pornography as in ‘there is some porn on his computer’. You can have one porno, and some porn, but not one porn and some porno. I hope that makes sense. Exactly. And porno is always a movie–it can’t be a magazine or still shot, at least, as a noun. As an adjective, the form is always porno. pr0n I save for things that aren’t really porn, like, say, gadget pr0n. It’s pronounced like prawn. (And, in my accent, prawn and on rhyme.) ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/5 "2011-02-28T22:23:50Z")
Usually “porno,” with an accent mimicking Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/6 "2011-02-28T22:50:44Z")
I, with my discriminating taste, have porn. Lower classes, who apparently don’t post here on the Dope, have “porno”. (Quotation marks to insulate my delicate self from its ickyness.) ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/7 "2011-02-28T22:56:32Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/8 "2011-02-28T23:12:27Z")
Gentlemen’s special interest multimedia products. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/9 "2011-02-28T23:24:49Z")
It’s porn. Unless of course your mom took away your best mag, in which case, defer to the Beastie Boys. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/10 "2011-02-28T23:34:21Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. Why was this ever done? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/11 "2011-02-28T23:55:50Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Why was this ever done? Originally, I assume it was to get around some censorship, either on a forum or at one’s workplace. But that’s just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/12 "2011-02-28T23:57:19Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. This here, at least when I’m talking with my friends in IRC. It makes the subject slightly ridiculous, and I don’t really want have non-ridiculous, weighty discussions about porn. IRL I speak Finnish so it’s not relevant really, we don’t have the shorther “porn” version, only “porno”. We need our vowels, ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/13 "2011-03-01T00:13:09Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > Originally, I assume it was to get around some censorship, either on a forum or at one’s workplace. But that’s just a guess. In some cases it is to avoid triggering a workplace filter, in other cases, like blogs, it’s used so that you can discuss the issue without being the first result when, at a later date, someone googles “cookie monster porn.” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/14 "2011-03-01T01:06:23Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. Yep, pr0n. (pron. “prunn.”). ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/15 "2011-03-01T01:55:40Z")
“Porn” is the category. It is an uncountable noun. “Porno” is the thing. It is countable. Example: “How much porn do you have?” “I have 6 pornos and a couple of mags.” “Dude, I literally have a ton of porn!” “I have lots of porn, but no pornos.” ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/16 "2011-03-01T01:59:53Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > Originally, I assume it was to get around some censorship, either on a forum or at one’s workplace. But that’s just a guess. Common typos had a way of becoming memes in those days. Things like “teh” or “!!!1!!”. I always assumed that pron, later pr0n, had the same origin. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/17 "2011-03-01T02:18:48Z")
Porn, unless I too wanna be cute and call it pr0n (pronounced prawn). ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/18 "2011-03-01T02:26:07Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I, with my discriminating taste, have porn. Lower classes, who apparently don’t post here on the Dope, have “porno”. I have porn He has porno They have smut Gotcha. > [@Jophiel](#): > > I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. Not to be confused with pwn (pronounced like “pone”), unless you’re pwning someone’s pr0n. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/19 "2011-03-01T07:15:16Z")
You know what porn term I despise? “Lesbo”. It just looks and sounds so … juvenile. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961/20 "2011-03-01T09:06:38Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I go all retro-1998 and call it pr0n. I keep all the naughty boobies in my Prawn folder. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-or-porno/572961.md?page=2)