Two Day Magazine

What's In a Word?

Have you ever noticed that certain words make you think of sex? This was proven to me in a Broadway theatre where a serious drama was being presented. The main male character nonchalantly uttered the normally innocent word "panties" and women in the audience giggled and sighed, with more than a few of us crossing and re-crossing our legs. The men weren’t immune to the word either; they had knowing intimate smiles on their faces.  Panties is definitely a word that makes us think of sex.

The French word for intimate undies is also a word that brings to mind sexual activity. A French professor I know has only to say the word "lingerie" in the presence of his girlfriend to make her feel sexy and ready. It may be in the way he says it, of course, with that lovely accent, but believe me the word gets a friendly reaction.

Sex words that excite don’t always have to do with sex at all. Sometimes, just a word in another language will do it. A friend of mine gets turned on by her fiancé saying the word "quattordici". That’s the Italian word for the number 14, not exactly a hot button word. I guess it is in the way it is pronounced, quattordici or maybe just because it is a word in a romance language.

“I don’t know why it gets me hot,” she says, “I only know that the word makes me think of sex. This is kind of embarrassing but, last night, he was on the phone speaking in Italian with his mother for God’s sake, and he said that word. I can’t even tell you how it affected me!”

Men are affected by certain words, too. Some men think with their libidos when they hear words like bra, stockings, garters, and of course, panties. My male friends have said I'd be surprised at what words can excite the male brain. Did I know, they asked me, that men can also be excited by plain and simple words such as steak, vacation, resort, and bed? Of course, says my male resident comedian, this might be because "they are thinking of a good steak dinner at a restaurant on a great vacation at a resort  where they will eventually end up in bed with the woman!" My guy friends love to taunt me.

By their very nature words are interesting because they are a basic form of communication. How they’re said and how they affect us is very individual. Some people get turned-on by infantile words like “bum, butt, fanny, boobs, bosoms”, and other cute-sey expressions for body parts. Others like full-blown explicit, hardcore  words for those same parts.

Then there are those who are excited by  words used in a legal setting, words  which have no connection to sex at all. I mean, the Latin word gravitas, meaning serious or important usually isn’t a word that you would normally think might cause sexual excitement. Yet, a lawyer told me the way the prosecutor used that word over and over again in relation to a case he was on gave him chills. It made him have sexy thoughts about her for weeks afterward.

We all get aroused by many things and words are just one of the many. Words and the way we hear them are very personal. No one really knows why. Still there are some words........

I wonder what reaction we would get in a crowded room of men and women  if someone loudly mentioned the word Spanx?  

Somehow, I highly doubt anyone would be thinking of the product.

© 2010 Copyright Kristen Houghton
Kristen Houghton is the author of the best-selling book, And Then I'll Be Happy! Stop Sabotaging Your Happiness and Put Your Own Life First