# Spelling the other word for 'orgasm' **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704 "2004-04-29T17:43:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shaky\_Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@Shaky\_Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaky_Jake)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/1 "2004-04-29T17:43:58Z")
Dumbfounded that at 42 years old I’m posting a sophomoric question, but… Settle a disagreement, O teeming millions? Is it “come” or “cum”? FYI, I say it’s ‘come’, and that ‘cum’ is a…a made up spelling (by bad or tawdry writers) becasue, well, it MUSt be spelled differently? Besides, I just don’t like it. Survey says…? Cheers, Jake can’t believe I’m wasting my semi-annual post on this… ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/2 "2004-04-29T17:49:54Z")
Cum. “Come” is already taken, and should only be used by those too dainty to use the appropriate spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/3 "2004-04-29T17:58:05Z")
All the Ladies spell it thusly: O-H-W-I-N-S-T-O-N heh. :rolleyes: um… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/4 "2004-04-29T18:03:27Z")
Oddly, it is not mentioned in the _Associated Press Style Guide_. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/5 "2004-04-29T18:20:19Z")
The spelling “cum” is better because it looks so dirty! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/6 "2004-04-29T18:20:26Z")
I hate ‘cum’. It looks like grafitti written by a 12-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/7 "2004-04-29T18:24:56Z")
Are you talking about the verb or the noun? And if you think about the, uh, afterglow, what did you do (hopefully)? You came. So it’s come. Maybe. But I’ve always seen any reference to the “by-product”, male or female, as cum. Maybe that’s why condoms aren’t sometimes referred to as scomebags. Damn, I’m confused. Now I don’t know if I’m coming or going. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/8 "2004-04-29T18:31:03Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > The spelling “cum” is better because it looks so dirty! 🙂 That’s what I always thought, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/9 "2004-04-29T18:33:14Z")
I agree with **Skelji**. When you orgasm, you come, but cum is … uh, what comes. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/10 "2004-04-29T18:39:52Z")
Definitely _cum_. Spelling it that way distinguishes it from the non-sexual term. And that’s the form it takes in compound words like cumstains and cumshots. Although I had to laugh at a billboard for a local restaurant that featured little else but the name of the restaurant and the tagline **COME HUNGRY**. Was that supposed to be pronounced “Come _hungry_” or “_Come_ hungry”? ---
**Author:** ![Storm\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Storm\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Storm_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/11 "2004-04-29T19:06:44Z")
I’ll take the word “come” over “cum” anyday. When the word “cum” is used, it just seems childish to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kiki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kiki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiki)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/12 "2004-04-29T19:15:36Z")
“come” is listed in the dictionary as: Main Entry: 2come Function: noun 1 often vulgar : SEMEN 2 often vulgar : ORGASM I don’t spell cum very often but when I do it’s c-u-m. Like **Snooooopy** said… it looks dirty! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/13 "2004-04-29T19:19:46Z")
The other word for “orgasm” is spelled c-l-i-m-a-x. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/14 "2004-04-29T22:20:40Z")
Cum is the noun, come is the verb. Consider this as I relate the other name for our records room at school: the “cum room.” It’s a shortened version of “cumulative room.” They even refer to the files at my school as “cums.” Some words just shouldn’t be shortened. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/15 "2004-04-29T23:44:25Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Oddly, it is not mentioned in the _Associated Press Style Guide_. That’s because it was already covered by the _Official Letters to Penthouse Style Manual_😛 ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/16 "2004-04-30T00:18:36Z")
I think it got confused in the past tense. Came. Not cummed. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/17 "2004-04-30T00:44:49Z")
I remember it being spelled “come” back in the early 70’s (when I first started reading that particular _genre_). Then it seemed that the “cum” spelling became more and more common until it was pretty much universal in the mid 80’s. “_Genre_”: that’s French, y’know [nose in the air] ---
**Author:** ![dangergene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@dangergene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangergene)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/18 "2004-04-30T01:27:48Z")
aaah, _le petite morte!_ I like this game, cos a lot of my colleagues insist on using ‘cum’ in the old Latin sense (meaning, ‘with’) but don’t actually realise it means, ‘with’ they just think it’s high-fallutin’ english. I like taking it down a step (low-fallutin’ english?) and will turn bright red in mock horror when they talk about having a dinner-party-cum-auction for the office recreation club… Don’t that just look filthy? _urgh!_ _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/19 "2004-04-30T01:41:30Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Definitely _cum_. > > Spelling it that way distinguishes it from the non-sexual term. Where does that leave the residents of Ashby-cum, Fenby, Kirkby-cum-Osgodby, Tyldesley-cum-Shakerley, and (my favourite) Chorlton-cum-Hardy? (Oh I love silly placenames) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/20 "2004-04-30T02:24:02Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Where does that leave the residents of Ashby-cum, Fenby, Kirkby-cum-Osgodby, Tyldesley-cum-Shakerley, and (my favourite) Chorlton-cum-Hardy? That leaves them holding the bag. HA HA HA HA HA ah, this is too easy 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704.md?page=2)