My Kingdom for an Accessible Euphemism

[Damoiselle]

Vagina is too clinical. "Flower" makes me cringe. Pussy sounds silly. Cunt sounds harsh and alienates a lot of readers.

I use cock a lot, but I don't actually like it.

While I actually like flourish-y euphemism like "altar of venus" and "love's throbbing scepter," they aren't exactly relatable to most readers or appropriate in most modern stories.

I suppose my favorites, currently, are just plain "sex" for a vagina and "endowment" or "phallus" for a penis. Unfortunately they don't work in every context and I don't even think that the last one is even linguistically accurate.

But still.

What words for naughty parts do you like?

 

[saintcero]

Fuck stick
Shaft

Vaj
Cunnie
Cock vacuum

 

[Handley_Page]

Vagina is too clinical. "Flower" makes me cringe. Pussy sounds silly. Cunt sounds harsh and alienates a lot of readers.

I use cock a lot, but I don't actually like it.

While I actually like flourish-y euphemism like "altar of venus" and "love's throbbing scepter," they aren't exactly relatable to most readers or appropriate in most modern stories.

I suppose my favorites, currently, are just plain "sex" for a vagina and "endowment" or "phallus" for a penis. Unfortunately they don't work in every context and I don't even think that the last one is even linguistically accurate.

But still.

What words for naughty parts do you like?

Why 'naughty' ?

You've created a character, endowed, presumably with some education and a sufficiently adult outlook.
How would that character describe the 'naughty bits' ?

 

[Damoiselle]

Why 'naughty' ?

You've created a character, endowed, presumably with some education and a sufficiently adult outlook.
How would that character describe the 'naughty bits' ?

There is a certain level of irony involved when I use such a phrase.

This hypothetical characters calls them vagina and penis. However, they also believe that these two words sound a bit too clinical as recurring descriptions in an erotic story.

 

[RejectReality]

Depends upon the story, although I almost never use the clinical terms 'penis', and 'vagina'. Most times I have used them, it's been tongue-in-cheek.

I also tend to shy away from 'dick' because my wife hated it. She even had me censor it in about twenty different variations on her forum back in the day. LOL If I have a character for whom it's appropriate, I'll use it though.

Cock, manhood, and erection are the big three that cut across most of my stories. I may toss in a hardness, hardon, dick, or even prick here and there. Sometimes shaft comes in handy. Helmet, cockhead, and tip get used when I narrow things down.

Pussy, folds, sex, and nether lips are the big four on the opposite end. "Cunt" gets reserved for rough sex or women on the dominant side talking dirty. I use sheath, canal, and walls a lot as well. Wetness gets in there.

I used a lot of "flower" and "petals" type word choice for ( sort-of ) pussy in a recent one, both because it's a weird sex non-human story where that language creates a nice contrast I like, and because the initial description sets it all up.

Gear things toward the characters, the setting, and the theme. Do your best to overcome your own personal prejudices when you do. You may not like a word, but your character might very well use it frequently.

That's what I try to do, anyway. Give a word a chance when the circumstances call for it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This thread will give you some ideas:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1433294

 

[Damoiselle]

This thread will give you some ideas:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1433294

Well, that was...contentious. I so wish this forum allowed avatars. It would be so much easier to follow this plot with stronger visual identifiers.

Thanks. That did help.

 

[Hypoxia]

Well, that was...contentious. I so wish this forum allowed avatars. It would be so much easier to follow this plot with stronger visual identifiers.

You can load an avatar after you've posted 100 times. Play some of the stupid er I mean fun games here and you'll get there fast.

 

[HisArpy]

For women; sex, mons, folds, lips, crotch, vagina, labia and so on. I don't think I've ever used cunt or twat. If I have, it's been so infrequent that I don't remember any specific instance.

For men; usually it's shaft, erection, stiffness, himself, length and so on. Rarely do I use cock or dick.

If I wrote stories where the characters were more brutal or rough when is comes to the sex scenes, I'd use harsher words. I don't write that sort of plot so I have no need to use that vocabulary in my works.

The thing about describing sexual organs is that too many writers fall into the purple prose trap. The "Her gently scented and perfectly petaled alter of Venus glistened with dewdrops of loving desire. She yearned for the full throbbing deep-purple hardness of his engorged manhood..." descriptions are just too much. Just stop and use the select all/delete keys before we all go blind.

 

[HectorBidon]

I so wish this forum allowed avatars. It would be so much easier to follow this plot with stronger visual identifiers.

If you visit the forums anonymously (without logging in first) you see the posters' avatars. If you log in first, you don't see them. (At least that's the way it works for me.)

 

[Bramblethorn]

If you visit the forums anonymously (without logging in first) you see the posters' avatars. If you log in first, you don't see them. (At least that's the way it works for me.)

Sounds like you have avatar display switched off in your user settings. (User CP -> Edit Options -> Show Avatars)

 

[sr71plt]

I change my avatars frequently. I use my marketplace book covers and often the avatar is from a book I'm now serializing on Literotica.

I mostly use cock and shaft for men and cunt, vagina, or slit for women. When I'm in a character's head or dialogue, though, I often use different terms than the narrator uses.

 

[lexdepenny]

Euphemisms

A few not-necessarily connected reflections, for what they are worth.
Since most of my stories involve couples who enjoy sex together as well as with others, there's a fair amount of banter between them, so "willy" is not uncommon. "Bits" tends to appear when a woman is speaking about herself. Pussy used to be okay until....
I feel that "cunt" is most appropriate in situations where little or no affection is involved, or when a character is deliberately choosing to be brutal in their language. It happens mostly when the degree of arousal goes beyond that character's previous experience. I wrote a story set partly in India, which allowed me to sneak in "yoni", which I enjoyed.
“Dick” is relatively neutral to my mind, more so than “prick”. “Erection” I quite like as a go-to word, since a limp dick, prick or penis is no good to anyone not in need of a pee.
A lot depends on the tone of the story and the person narrating it, if it isn’t a third-person narrative.
"Vulva", "vagina" and "penis" all feature in my stories, but there are occasions when I’ve gone through a load of synonyms and still not been entirely happy with the eventual choice. I suspect I’m not alone in that.

 

[NotWise]

You can also reduce the number of times that you make explicit references to anatomy. That reduces the need for variety and the risk of becoming repetitive. You can actually (if you want) write entire sex scenes without anatomical references.

 

[sr71plt]

On the other hand, repetitive mention has a place in writing technique too, punctuating the action.

 

[NotWise]

On the other hand, repetitive mention has a place in writing technique too, punctuating the action.

I've used it, and had people (probably from the story feedback forum) point out my "problem" in comments.

 

[NotWise]

I'll pile on a question similar to that in the OP. What to call all the thingies is one issue. How to describe the noises people make is another.

I'm tired of the limited range of moan, groan, gasp, and bellow, garbled nonsense and various sounds made through clenched teeth. What are better, or just different, options?

 

[jaF0]

I keep wondering if accessible is a euphemism for acceptable somehow.

 

[jomar]

My White Trash story has a fairly broad vocabulary on the topic at hand, but it’s not for delicate sensibilities...so, forewarned if you dive in to research there.

 

[sr71plt]

I've used it, and had people (probably from the story feedback forum) point out my "problem" in comments.

But then if you gauge your writing level to the average reader sophistication level of the Literotica reader you're shooting for pabulum. (And that includes some of the commenters in the feedback forum--although the level of those has come up in recent years.)

 

[yukonnights]

I rarely hear real people using a wide range of abstruse descriptive words for those "bits". It comes off as phony to me if I try to use them in dialogue or thoughts when deep down I know no one talks like that in bed or in their head. I've never said; "Oh your vulva and precious tunnel of love feels so wonderful suctioning my manly shaft." (and if I ever did, I plead not guilty due to intoxication )

I think what NotWise said is pretty wise; "You can also reduce the number of times that you make explicit references to anatomy. That reduces the need for variety and the risk of becoming repetitive. You can actually (if you want) write entire sex scenes without anatomical references. "

 

[Hypoxia]

I depend on my downloaded copy of The Bald-Headed Hermit and the Artichoke; An Erotic Thesaurus. Many many loaded terms there.

 

[JulianWinslow]

The right word

I think "context" is very important when choosing the right word for "naughty parts."

 

[weftandwarp]

I think "context" is very important when choosing the right word for "naughty parts."

Yes. CONTEXT.

Where context doesn't help I like the word sex (his sex, her sex) or simply not to use any word at all. As an exercise it is interesting to remove all those words (and the ones attendant to them) and then to read it. So often all the sense is retained and it reads better. The biggest turnoff is womanhood and manhood.

 

[NotWise]

The biggest turnoff is womanhood and manhood.

I once used the term 'feminine center' and thought it worked in that context.