# When did saying "Balls!" to express one's exasperation become a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204 "2013-12-12T23:20:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/1 "2013-12-12T23:20:17Z")
I was watching an episode of The Goldbergs. If you don’t already know, this is a sitcom that is supposed to take place sometime in the 80’s. In the episode, something unfortunate happens to one of the kids in the show. His respone was “Balls!” as in “Damn!” or “Shit!” I was a teenager in the 80’s and I don’t remember this ever being a thing. In fact, the first time I ever heard it was with Penny in The Big Bang Theory." So, was this a screw up with the producers? Or do any of you remember this being a saying pre-90’s? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/2 "2013-12-12T23:25:38Z")
It’s been a British thing to say “bollocks” since forever as far as I know. I’ve never heard anyone say “balls” though. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/3 "2013-12-13T00:24:53Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > It’s been a British thing to say “bollocks” since forever as far as I know. I’ve never heard anyone say “balls” though. You’re more likely to hear the euphemism for “balls” (“Nuts!”) but the fact that there is an euphemism for the word suggests that it was used commonly at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/4 "2013-12-13T00:30:50Z")
My teenage stepdaughter has been saying it for about 2 years. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone else say it. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/5 "2013-12-13T00:38:25Z")
That’s one of my favorite miffed or pissed off exclamations. I’ve used it for a good 15 years or so, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/6 "2013-12-13T00:41:18Z")
John Hurt says it in Atom Egoyan’s 2001 film of _Krapp’s Last Tape_. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/7 "2013-12-13T00:42:03Z")
in your pants! ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/8 "2013-12-13T00:44:18Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > It’s been a British thing to say “bollocks” since forever as far as I know. I’ve never heard anyone say “balls” though. In London they use the cockney slang “cobblers” instead. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/9 "2013-12-13T00:45:00Z")
In **Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog** , the titular character (played by Neil Patrick Harris) says it at the end of the song [A Man’s Got to Do](http://youtu.be/NN3eBvZvUXk). He’s disgusted that his archrival (and local superhero) Captain Hammer claimed responsibility for saving local lovely (and Dr. H’s crush) Penny from an out-of-control van, and snarls “Balls!” at the end of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/10 "2013-12-13T01:20:39Z")
I remember it from West Texas in the 1970s for sure. Maybe earlier. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/11 "2013-12-13T01:33:20Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > You’re more likely to hear the euphemism for “balls” (“Nuts!”) but the fact that there is an euphemism for the word suggests that it was used commonly at some point. “December 22, 1944 To the German Commander, N U T S ! The American Commander” -Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/12 "2013-12-13T02:02:36Z")
Sometime between 1972 and 1977 in the northeastern US. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/13 "2013-12-13T02:11:46Z")
“Nuts!” was one of Inspector Cramer’s favorite interjections in the Nero Wolfe novels, which started publication in what, the mid-30s? In the case of the sitcom, though, I suspect it’s just something they can slip past the censors. ---
**Author:** ![Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mander)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/14 "2013-12-13T02:23:24Z")
In my house ‘ball sack’ is much more popular. But only for the last few years (when my boys turned into teenagers). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/15 "2013-12-13T04:47:40Z")
It goes back at least to the epic [_The Night of the King’s Castration_](http://ingeb.org/Lieder/thenight.html). > [@](#): > > When the King saw this, he cried, “Balls!”; not because he had to, but because he had two. And the Queen replied, “Balls!? If I had two, I could be King!” The erudite Gershon Legman, in _Bawdy Monologues and Rhymed Recitations_ (Southern Folklore Quarterly 40(1976), 59-122), gives the date of an early version of the piece as 1959, but the exclamation is undoubtedly much earlier. I recall hearing _The Night of the King’s Castration_ when I was in college in the early 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/16 "2013-12-13T05:47:45Z")
Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver from afc-a) on _Supernatural_ is the only place I’ve heard it; I think he started with “Weekend at Bobby’s” but it could have been before. I’ve never heard it IRL, where there are no censors to worry about and better alternatives abound. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/17 "2013-12-13T05:58:42Z")
OED’s earliest known use of **balls, _int_.** is in J. H. Preston’s _Liberals_ (1938): > [@](#): > > ‘Oh, balls!’ Greg said… ‘Why in hell couldn’t father let us stay in jail?’ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/18 "2013-12-13T15:24:30Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I was watching an episode of The Goldbergs. If you don’t already know, this is a sitcom that is supposed to take place sometime in the 80’s. In the episode, something unfortunate happens to one of the kids in the show. His respone was “Balls!” as in “Damn!” or “Shit!” > > I was a teenager in the 80’s and I don’t remember this ever being a thing. In fact, the first time I ever heard it was with Penny in The Big Bang Theory." > > So, was this a screw up with the producers? Or do any of you remember this being a saying pre-90’s? It was my mother’s favorite expression. I don’t know when she started using it, but remember it clearly from the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/19 "2013-12-13T16:37:42Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > In London they use the cockney slang “cobblers” instead. Could someone elucidate the rhyme for this non-Brit, please? ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204/20 "2013-12-13T16:40:00Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Could someone elucidate the rhyme for this non-Brit, please? Cobbler’s awls [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-saying-balls-to-express-ones-exasperation-become-a-thing/676204.md?page=2)