# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/21 "2004-04-30T03:58:33Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Oddly, it is not mentioned in the _Associated Press Style Guide_. It seems to be missing from The New York Times’ _Manual of Style and Usage_ as well. Tsk tsk. ---
**Author:** ![Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercury)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/22 "2004-04-30T04:40:32Z")
The verb is come. I have never used the noun form, but I would certainly never call it “come” or “cum.” ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/23 "2004-04-30T05:39:06Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I hate ‘cum’. It looks like grafitti written by a 12-year-old. Exactly, to use slang like that, just demeans and cheapens something that’s just such an awesome experience (In the original meaning of the word, not the Valley Girl meaning). ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/24 "2004-04-30T05:54:44Z")
> [@Mercury](#): > > The verb is come. I have never used the noun form, but I would certainly never call it “come” or “cum.” > [@GorillaMan](#): > > I hate ‘cum’. It looks like grafitti written by a 12-year-old. I totally agree! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/25 "2004-04-30T11:12:28Z")
Cum is good. It makes me feel very special in a ‘sneaking a peak at porn when I was kid’ kind of way. Cumming is NOT good. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/26 "2004-04-30T11:18:41Z")
“Come”, IMO. “Cum” is far too porn. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/27 "2004-04-30T11:18:56Z")
> [@Fairblue](#): > > I think it got confused in the past tense. > > Came. > > Not cummed. But “cummed” is dirty AND grammatically askew, so it’s, you know, twice as good! ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/28 "2004-04-30T12:01:26Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Oddly, it is not mentioned in the _Associated Press Style Guide_. _Checks 'Journalism Style Guide_ Hey! It’s not mentioned there either! I was told this contained everything I could possibly need to know as a journalist! ---
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/29 "2004-04-30T12:18:02Z")
> [@HomeOfTheBraves](#): > > Some words just shouldn’t be shortened. Heh, I agree. At my old job we dealt with about 500 different magazines, and each was coded in the computer system by the first 5 letters in the name, so often in speaking we would refer to the mag by its shortened code. This worked fine with “Chick” for Chickadee, “Paren” for Parenting Magazine, “Marth” for Martha Stewart Living, and “Cabin” for Cabin Life. But while “Count” _looked_ fine, when you realized that it was short for Country Living the pronunciation became somewhat questionable. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/30 "2004-05-01T02:41:10Z")
“Come” sounds classier…plus, “Cum” is more often used in place of “Semen.” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/31 "2004-05-01T03:05:46Z")
::opens thread wondering how the hell anyone could fail to know how to spell **“climax”** :: Ewww. I hate that whole “let’s make sex sound like sewage” 5th-grader vocabulary thing. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/32 "2004-05-01T04:40:32Z")
I’m disappointed in all of you. This should have devolved into a “euphemism for ejaculate” thread quite some time ago. For shame. Baby Batter ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/33 "2004-05-01T05:33:48Z")
To quote the great Dan Savage ( **Savage Love** , 1998): > [@](#): > > Of all the words with a second, sexual meaning, why does only this one require an alternate spelling? We don’t “suk dik,” eat “pussee,” sit on “kocks,” get “blohjahbs,” or nuzzle “juggs,” do we? “Cum” is an adolescent, _Hustler_ magazine affectation. > > And the fact that “cum” can be a noun or a verb further complicates the matter. As noun, it’s always cum: “Look, there’s some cum lying there.” “Oh, I have cum in my eye.” Not so when used as a verb: “Cum on me, baby.” “He [came] on me.” If in the present tense, the slang verb for ejaculate requires an alternate spelling, why not in its past tense? Why don’t we say, “She cam/caam/camme/caim/c@me when I ate her out”? Because it’s a stoopid thing to do, that’s why! > > And what if you need to use both the noun and verb forms in one sentence? Writing “He came in my mouth, so I swallowed his cum” is inconsistent, don’t you think? Looks sloppy. How much simpler it is to use the standard four-letter spelling and allow the word to have, as so many words do, more than one meaning. There now. Was it good for you too? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/34 "2004-05-01T11:52:03Z")
> [@E. Thorp](#): > > To quote the great Dan Savage ( **Savage Love** , 1998): > There now. Was it good for you too? I’ve never been so happy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/35 "2004-05-01T13:39:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Of all the words with a second, sexual meaning, why does only this one require an alternate spelling? We don’t “suk dik,” eat “pussee,” sit on “kocks,” get “blohjahbs,” or nuzzle “juggs,” do we? But we keep tripping our nutsak into a frenzy of dik play! Er. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/36 "2004-05-01T15:03:33Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Cum is good. It makes me feel very special in a ‘sneaking a peak at porn when I was kid’ kind of way. > > Cumming is NOT good. This is _not_ a great idea for a sig. **I REPEAT** This is _not_ a great idea for a sig. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/37 "2004-05-01T16:29:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This is _not_ a great idea for a sig. > > **I REPEAT** > > This is _not_ a great idea for a sig. You’re just saying that because you want it for your own sig! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/38 "2004-05-01T17:42:32Z")
OED entry for “come” 1. [f. COME v.] Semen ejaculated at sexual climax, esp. spilt ejaculate. Also (rarely), fluid secreted by the vagina during sexual play. “cum” is obscure apparently: obs. form of COME v., pa. pple., n.2 ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/39 "2004-05-01T19:26:53Z")
It it just me, or does anyone else think of the Latin word for “with” when they see “cum”, and pronounce it “koom”? ---
**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:** [May 1, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704/40 "2004-05-01T20:37:20Z")
> [@Kantalooppi](#): > > But we keep tripping our nutsak into a frenzy of dik play! > > Er. Heh…Spinnwebe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-the-other-word-for-orgasm/242704.md?page=3)