a current thread talks of people 'sleeping' with someone

[ensho]

'sleeping' meaning having 'sex'.

I've often wondered why the media and many of us say 'sleeping' when we mean 'sex'. like Jane is sleeping with Joe. instead of reality, Jane is having sex with Joe.

is it habit left over from prudish times? the word 'sex' is thrown about and used all the time in the media and out, but not actually for the act of sex. 'that dress is sexy' 'sexy movie', etc.

but referring to the sex act it gets changed to the sleeping.

sometimes we are a strange country.

[ananda]

1. The Brits say shagging.

I find it amusing. I don't know where
that term came from, but it's used with
so many inflections...

[msedano]

2. whole for the part

is it that part for the hole?

[dem629]

3. It's an example of conservative politically correct language cleansing. This happens on both sides.

[peace13]

4. I don't really like to think about people of any gender having sex.

My mind's picture is much to vivid. I prefer that folks just be snuggling, napping, sleeping..

[TahitiNut]

7. So, "bumping uglies" isn't a euphemism you'd use?

:rofl:

[peace13]

10. Ha!! n/t

[Jack from Charlotte]

42. The term.... "knocking boots" is useful, IMO. (NFM)

*

[TahitiNut]

43. So is "making the beast with two backs."

:rofl:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

40. Snuggling, napping, sleeping . . .

That is too funny! When I was very young I thought that "sleeping together" causing babies was due to picking up some sort of cootie type thing from the sheets. But that's incorrect, right?

[BurtWorm]

5. It's a euphemism, and there's no good word for it that isn't one.

Even "having sex" is a euphemism. The real word is "fucking."

[TahitiNut]

9. Copulate.

:shrug:

[BurtWorm]

11. 'Jennifer Aniston is copulating with John Mayer...'

I don't know. It just doesn't have the right ring to it.

[TahitiNut]

6. I dislike euphemisms. There's nothing wrong with the word 'copulate.'

:shrug: Indeed, I rarely avoid the more coarse term "fuck." It seems that one of our more noxious cultural problems is "a failure to communicate" so I tend to avoid exacerbating it.

[AngryAmish]

8. Name one country that does not use a euphamism for sex

You can't. Only on Vulcan they do, and we ain't on Vulcan. In fact, despite your protestations, Vulcan does not exist.

[RaleighNCDUer]

20. Well, not any more it doesn't. nt

[ContinentalOp]

27. Spoiler alert :P

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. The reason they don't talk about it on Vulcan

Is that they only get laid once every 7 years, and understandably, with dry spells like that in between, it's the last thing you want to talk about!

Live long and prosper? Is that really "prospering"?

[H2O Man]

12. People use the wrong words

to avoid the true meaning of the correct words they fail to use. At most, they hint.

[timtom]

18. John Barth in "The Sotweed Factor"

(as close to a direct quote without looking for the damn book):

"What, Ebenezer! You mean to tell me you've never turned your fid to the parting of some dock whore's hemp?"

A fid is an old nautical tool from the eighteenth century.

" a wooden or metal pin for parting strands of a rope."

[struggle4progress]

21. Great book. "Fame's a fickle slut and whorey"

[seabeyond]

13. ha... funny you. i say fuckin when it is crude or sex. i dont get the "making love"

to me it is sex, .... not making anything including love, though the sex may be with the one we love. and i never use sleepin with. sleeping is snoring, shouldnt be a whole lot of sex gooing on

i have never shared the makin love thing though. seems like people are into that term and like to use it, so i leave it alone

[ensho]

14. agree, I think saying 'making love' is ridiculous

love is love, sex is sex.

[winter999]

28. The reality is

that "Sleeping Together" and "Making Love" were not originally code for "SEX" but rather was more literal. Back in the 18th and 19th Century, "Sleeping Together" meant.... well, sleeping. together. not sex. It "evolved" into that meaning. Likewise, "Making Love" was when a man woo'd a woman (rarely, if ever, the other way around). The acts of bringing flowers; talking marriage, life, and kids; visiting were all "Making Love". Again, not sex. Again, evolved.

Language is never static. Meanings change all the time. (one example of an "evolving" term - Dumb. Most can agree that strictly speaking this means "Can't Talk". But ask any kid and they'll tell you it means "Stupid". Doesn't take much to make a leap and suppose that a person could be thought of as stupid if they can't talk.)

It's all about the Slang.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

41. I think the time is ripe for bringing back bundling boards. nt

[konnichi wa]

15. Other silly euphemisms: gosh darn, gol dang, doggonit, dadgumit, etc. All designed to

take advantage of the fact pore ole stupid Jebus can't figure out they mean god damnit.

[Javaman]

16. You forgot dagnabit. ;) lol nt

[konnichi wa]

17. Dadburnit, I sure did!

:rofl:

[hfojvt]

19. perhaps it is a recognition of reality

that in any relationship, there is more sleeping than sex.

[libodem]

23. hmmm, like getting in bed together

as an endorsement, sleeping with the enemy, as in doing business with competition, wearing a rubber, feeling secure while getting screwed....yes, I get it. Double speak. Nobody says what they mean or means what they say. Funny world. Funny=peculiar.

[FarCenter]

24. "sleeping with" doesn't necessarily mean sex, e.g. "sleeping with the fishes"

[PCIntern]

25. ...or Mika having sex with Joe...

ooops, did I just post that?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

26. No Irrelevant And Meaningless Nuclear 'Events' Today?

:rofl:

[ensho]

32. nope

the nuke plants seem to be humming along in the last 24

[Fireweed247]

29. Why is 'fuck you' an insult when it should be a great compliment?

I'll never understand the english language...

[tjwash]

30. I like "begat" and "knew" myself

[ensho]

33. lol

nt

[yellowcanine]

31. Probably because it sounds a little more civilized than "exchanging bodily fluids".

[ensho]

34. 'exchanging' is not quite the word

one party can wipe away everything, the other cannot. so exchanging does not describe the event.

and if a rubber is used nothing gets exchanged or mingled.

now kissing is an exchange and mingling.

[David__77]

35. I kind of like it...

I like it because, in most cases, I want hazy gauzy veil over the particular actors involved. I don't want any scarring mental imagery.

[LeftHander]

36. sleeping together is sexy....

you can wake up and have sex! How cool is that...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

37. Or, "seeing someone". Which gives a whole new meaning to "seeing eye dog".

Other silly metaphors for fucking:

"Banging" - Dyno-mite!
"Screwing" - Right or Left hand thread?
"De-flowering" - Weed killer?
Intercourse - Passionate conversation?
"Coupling" - Does one "de-couple" like trains?
"Coitus" - Is Coitus Politus?
"Going All the Way" - To Newark?
"Getting laid" - Does one also get "sitted" or "standed"?

etc, etc, etc.

[Kaleva]

38. How about "Putting down a pet" or "putting it to sleep"?

When in truth, the animal is being executed.

[NeedleCast]

39. Puritan Land

Sex isn't something we're supposed to talk about. I know several people in my peer/age group that still have a hard time mentioning the word sex. I'm not even talking about them having a problem talking about their sex lives...they literally are uncomfortable saying the word sex in a public place. This has started to change a little, but for the most part we're still a sexually repressed country. I think a lot of people never really break out of that childhood programing that sex is bad and wrong.

[SoxFan]

44. Doin' the Horizontal Mambo

:thumbsup: