# Word For Male Mistress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882 "2024-04-28T21:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/61 "2024-04-29T17:12:52Z")
A mistress is just halfway between a mister and a mattress. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/62 "2024-04-29T17:18:43Z")
True. So maybe we could, as a society, agree to use the word “mattster”. In case “piece on the side” is too verbose. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/63 "2024-04-29T18:19:36Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Led Zeppelin also used a variation of the phrase in “Since I’ve Been Loving You”: > > _I open my front door, hear my back door slam_ This is what I always thought back door man meant. He ran out the back door when the husband came in the front door. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/64 "2024-04-29T18:51:22Z")
How about just “boyfriend”? Sure, it’s context-dependent - but then again, if you think about it, so is “mistress”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/65 "2024-04-29T19:17:47Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Toyboy. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I thought it was Boy-toy. I guess it could go either way but the former is likely more known around the 'Dope, particularly when followed by “goy”. [![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/UDYDAwuIr7syaBoQ_AAjSyFEvx-GNa8VP72EDJXBVoO3GyWw3aIq02Hh7T-5g9meZ8pMwpVlcRm3r5t_eCGGpQnQKXqvloqjcskBQtMjtT0xmosdNWp9lO4BnkakR9MnH5zEuMiM=s0) ](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/UDYDAwuIr7syaBoQ_AAjSyFEvx-GNa8VP72EDJXBVoO3GyWw3aIq02Hh7T-5g9meZ8pMwpVlcRm3r5t_eCGGpQnQKXqvloqjcskBQtMjtT0xmosdNWp9lO4BnkakR9MnH5zEuMiM=s0) ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/66 "2024-04-29T19:55:54Z")
We French use “amant”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/67 "2024-04-29T23:02:02Z")
Which means “lover”, right? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/68 "2024-04-29T23:06:14Z")
That is what it means, so you thought right! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/69 "2024-04-29T23:18:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Milkman…when there was such a thing. Big Butter and Egg Man ? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/70 "2024-04-29T23:56:03Z")
Bimboy? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/71 "2024-04-30T00:18:52Z")
“Bimbo” is already male; Italian for baby boy ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/72 "2024-04-30T00:46:54Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > “Bimbo” is already male So is “gigolo,” but that didn’t stop the producers of that Rob Schneider movie. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/73 "2024-04-30T02:20:44Z")
Would that someone had. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/74 "2024-04-30T03:00:45Z")
I was trying to think of what, if anything, in Don Quixote might justify the name _sancho_. Maybe it’s the sidekick aspect? Probably it comes from someplace else? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/75 "2024-04-30T05:49:27Z")
Taco Tico? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/76 "2024-04-30T07:54:58Z")
I seem to recall them using that in “How I Met Your Mother.” ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/77 "2024-04-30T08:28:14Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I was trying to think of what, if anything, in Don Quixote might justify the name _sancho_. I don’t think it has anything to do with _El Quijote_. I have never heard that expression in European Spanish, I guess it is a Mexican thing. Sancho seems to be a normal and still common name in Mexico (it sounds a bit old fashioned in my ears), perhaps there was an anecdote or a movie with one of those Sanchos and the name stuck, or perhaps it is a thing like what happened with the name Karen in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/78 "2024-04-30T14:16:07Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NqEHtZHlsf0/hqdefault.jpg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NqEHtZHlsf0/hqdefault.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/79 "2024-04-30T14:23:00Z")
Mexicans _love_ Cervantes and Don Quijote. They have good museums and festivals devoted to this. ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882/80 "2024-04-30T17:40:28Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Which means “lover”, right? “lover” would be “amoureux”, with the sense of sentimental involvement. “Amant” carry a sense of forbidden act, which would be frowned upon by polite society. “mon amant” and “mon amoureux” are different in meaning, the first one would be almost shocking to say, but the second is totally fine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-male-mistress/1000882.md?page=5)