All about balls

Posted by ESC on April 23, 2001

In Reply to: "No Balls" posted by Barney on April 23, 2001

: : : : : : Can anyone shed any light on the phrase "

: : : : : Your understanding is correct--"a lack of courage".
: : : : : Just a guess but I think the origin is quite sexist.
: : : : : In the US women are discriminated against in jobs, pay and status. They are second class citizens to males.
: : : : : The phrase is a reference to a woman's lack of a scrotum and, therefore, her lack of status since she does not have the ability to produce testosterone, that manly of all manly body chemicals.

: : : : We can fix this. How about -- "You don't have the ovaries to do that." Or, if someone is cowardly, call him or her "t*tless." What do you think?

: : : I think the metaphor arose from a comparison between men and little boys, not between men and women, and is based on external anatomy, not on endocrine physiology. This belief is totally intuitive. I have no evidence to back it up.

: : I agree with R.Berg. It's rarely used towards woman. It is usually used towards men to demasculate them.

: I suspect that it is as stated: 'No Balls" equals implied absence of testicles together with the testosterone which powers male recklessness, courage and aggression.

From the "Gumption, Spunk, Grit, Sand, Guts, Balls" chapter of I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976): ".balls, which has meant testicles since the 1880s and manly courage since about 1935."

• All about balls Bob 04/23/01