# Why did sperm whales get such an unfortunate name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678 "2003-05-07T15:42:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/21 "2003-05-08T10:41:48Z")
Ambergris is still used in perfumes. Where do they get it now? Is it synthetic or do they still harvest it from the sea? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/22 "2003-05-08T11:33:18Z")
You can [buy natural ambergris online.](http://alndeealapacheimports.7p.com/genuine_ambergris_resin_1.html) It goes for 10$ per gram. And yet more info, [from here:](http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nodice/new/magazine/products/products.htm) > [@](#): > > AMBERGRIS is a pathological exudate from the Sperm Whale Physeter macrocephalus, which is acted on by sunlight and seawater to produce this formerly used perfumery material. Many correspondents to this website have problems with this, as they point out that ambergris masses may be found floating in the sea or washed up on shores, harvesting therefore posing no threat to whale viability. Rice D.W. (2002) of the National Maritime Mammal Laboratory, Seattle, points out however, that contrary to the widely held belief, ambergris is hardly ever found on beaches but is mainly recovered from whale carcasses Hopefully this will convince those with contrary opinions to think again (ambergris occurs in approx. 1% of all Sperm Wales). ---
**Author:** ![Embra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@Embra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Embra)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/23 "2003-05-08T11:50:45Z")
Spremaceti non-sexual you all say? Hah! Good old [Moby Dick](http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/moby/moby_094.html) > [@](#): > > Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers’ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say, - Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness. Or should I be locked up? Embra ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/24 "2003-05-08T14:11:30Z")
I’ve read that Ambergris still washes ashore at Amergris Caye in Belize, but not as often as it used to. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/25 "2003-05-08T14:33:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PhuQan G Nyus \* > **I know this has been pointed out but not to where it is clear that the term “sperm” had nothing really to do with any thought of reproduction.** Oh, yeah??? Gotta cite??? I’m not disagreeing with the plausibility, but at least _I_ provided a cite that supported one opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/26 "2003-05-08T14:57:17Z")
Just to back up **Earl** here, the etymological entry for _spermaceti_ in the OED: > [@](#): > > med.L., from _sperma_ sperm + ct gen. sing. of _cétus_ (ad. Gr. _kitos_) whale, through an erroneous opinion as to the nature of the substance. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/27 "2003-05-08T15:45:31Z")
> [@](#): > > 2nd grade boys have to have something to giggle about in science class. There’s always shiitake mushrooms. ---
**Author:** ![ICP9991](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@ICP9991](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ICP9991)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/28 "2003-05-08T16:44:57Z")
_raises hand_ …who exactly went on such an extensive search for something to improve perfume that they searched the earth so thoroughly, that the ended up in a whale’s ass?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678/29 "2003-05-08T18:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WILLASS \* > \*\*Thanks for clearing up the ambergris thing - for years I thought it was the smegma of a whale. Think not only of the whalers having to de-cheese a whales foreskin … \*\* Therefore proving once and for all exactly why the ancient species of Jewish Whales died out… nobody wanted them. ;j 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sperm-whales-get-such-an-unfortunate-name/173678.md?page=1)