# You say vagina, I say vu-vulva **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 4, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634 "2008-12-04T04:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/121 "2008-12-08T05:19:23Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I am not a huge fan of the word “vagina” but I think the word “vulva” is repulsive. I don’t know why, but it’s just one of those words that sounds very gross to me. Like phlegm. I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels this way! Something about the word just icks me out! ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/122 "2008-12-08T05:35:44Z")
Yeah I won’t say it unless I have to. Maybe it’s too close to “smegma”… vulva…smegma… they sound similar and just eww. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/123 "2008-12-08T06:38:01Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Yeah I won’t say it unless I have to. Maybe it’s too close to “smegma”… vulva…smegma… they sound similar and just eww. Vulva and smegma, with only one letter in common, sound similar? Now that is weird. For the popular use of “vagina” I blamed that play, _The Vagina Monologues_. Should have been _The Vulva Monologues_. Now here’s one for those across the pond: What do you call a fanny pack? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Haddock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@Captain\_Haddock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Haddock)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/124 "2008-12-08T06:56:49Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > What do you call a fanny pack? Either a ‘waist pack’ or more commonly a ‘bum bag’. Although this is largely academic since they haven’t been seen here since the late 80s/early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/125 "2008-12-08T09:34:19Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Vulva and smegma, with only one letter in common, sound similar? Now that is weird. They are both words that have the basic sound pattern “uh, uh” with similar inflection. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/126 "2008-12-08T09:50:34Z")
All my life I have heard the word pronounced _clit- OR- us_ to rhyme, more or less, with Dolores. This emphasis on _clit_ is new to me, having only heard this pronounciation in the last couple years. I stand by the old usage. Oh, and for **OpalCat** : Vagina Vagina Vagina Vagina Vagina Vagina Vagina 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/127 "2008-12-08T09:57:57Z")
😕 I’m not a fan of the word but it doesn’t bother me. It’s “vulva” that I think is oogy. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/128 "2008-12-08T10:01:23Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > 😕 > I’m not a fan of the word but it doesn’t bother me. It’s “vulva” that I think is oogy. Oops, I misread your post. Sorry. Vulva Vul… ah, fuck it. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/129 "2008-12-08T20:09:53Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > You’re aware that this episode has been discussed at length in the thread, right? Just asking because your wording sounded like you were explaining it to someone who hadn’t heard of it. Yes, I’m aware. Also aware that from some of the comments I read, the actual plot-line and/or dialogue was misrepresented. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/130 "2008-12-08T21:07:25Z")
I blame the fact that I call it vagina on my health teachers in elementary and high school. Every one of them (so…three…) told me that vagina referred to _the whole package_, ie ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix, vulva (which itself consits of inner and outer labia, clitoris, clitoral hood, etc…) The actual vagina itself was only referred to as the birth canal…which I guess is still technically true, in the sense that the uterus is also the womb, but you generally only refer to it as such during pregnancy. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/131 "2008-12-09T08:52:14Z")
For some reason this thread reminds me of the following exchange on the subject of romance from the unparalleled horror epic, _Garth Merengi’s Darkplace_: > [@](#): > > Dean: I read modern writers and it’s: “screw this”, “he licked her”, “she sucked that”, “he bit the other”, you know… “someone put it there”, “he held it”, “it was a this frequency”. I mean, where’s the sensuality? > > Garth: Exactly! Where’s “He glided in liquid smooth”? Where’s her “wispy mound”? > > Dean: Where’s her “sacred V”? > > Garth: “Honeyed lining”? > > Dean: Her “Mossy cleft”? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/132 "2008-12-09T13:05:32Z")
So, what would be the “correct” slang term then? Rather than va jay jay something more like va voo voo? ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/133 "2008-12-10T00:14:19Z")
My boys use the word “goolies” and when playing ball they wear a jock and a cup to protect those goolies. But they do know the proper words for all their goolie-bits. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/134 "2008-12-10T02:26:56Z")
As a kid, I was never given the proper terms. I think I first heard the word Vaginia when I was 8 or so and saw Kindergarten Cop. And, for the record, I’m in San Antonio Tx, and I pretty much only hear it called a cli-TOR-is around here. That includes from the PhDs and Masters degree level professors in my nursing school. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/135 "2008-12-10T02:30:44Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > As a kid, I was never given the proper terms. The correct term is cloaca. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/136 "2008-12-10T03:00:35Z")
No, no, no. The correct term is “poontang.” The small erectile bit is a “luvbutton,” the outer folds are “frontcheeks,” the inner folds are “swollbits,” & the canal to the womb is a “twat.” (OK, I just made up “swollbits.”) ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/137 "2008-12-10T03:15:12Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The correct term is cloaca. Hey now, that’s not going to work anymore! I’ll have you know I’ve endured hours and hours of anatomy classes, and now know that it’s called a furburger. Today I found myself using the phrase “junk” to discribe the penis and scrotum. Odd, since I don’t usually say that, but appropriate to this thread. Maybe we could adapt it for women. Her “junk”. Though I think I like “bits” better, as in, “I got a look at her bits.” ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/138 "2008-12-10T03:18:16Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > 😕 > I’m not a fan of the word but it doesn’t bother me. It’s “vulva” that I think is oogy. I have to agree. I can’t really explain it, the word “vulva” just sounds squicky to me. I just call it a taco. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/139 "2008-12-10T03:24:58Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > At least kids are getting taught something. My dad (a religious whackjob) and his wife decided not to teach their other kids (they got married when I was 21 and had five more kids together) _any_ name for their genitals. They don’t say “butt” or “fart” in their house either. It’s “bottom” and “flitter” as the other two are Bad Words. Hey, butt was a bad word in my house when I was a child, too. And I don’t even remember how old I was before I heard the word fart, but it sure wasn’t at home. We let stinkers. We had bottoms. And when we had to go poo we did squeezehard. (I think that was courtesy of my grandmother.) I certainly didn’t learn any other words for anything in that area. But I don’t remember needing any, either. I taught my daughters to say vulva, but nobody really ever used that word. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634/140 "2008-12-10T08:10:58Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > No, no, no. The correct term is “poontang.” The small erectile bit is a “luvbutton,” the outer folds are “frontcheeks,” the inner folds are “swollbits,” & the canal to the womb is a “twat.” Also, the orifice out which you urinate is a “pee pee”. [Cite.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10551992&postcount=1) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-say-vagina-i-say-vu-vulva/475634.md?page=8)