Many moons ago I took a college class called Human Sexuality. From that class, one class session in particular stands out in my memory. That was the session when the class was divided into two groups – male and female – and asked to write two lists for the names/titles/labels we gave our private parts. The females had to do the males list and the males had to do the females list.

Wow – did I learn a lot that day! There were literally dozens of entries on both sides of the board. Some were quite innocuous, while others were more vulgar – in presentation (and by my interpretation) at least. The fact is that the terms were all for the same items, so one shouldn’t be any more vulgar than the others, should they? But then again we are back to the power of words.

Here is an intellectual exercise for you – think of all the names/titles/labels you have heard for these parts. If you pay attention you will recognize that folks very rarely use the name of the actual body part (not that this is regularly discussed in polite conversation – but it does seem to find its way into conversations between friends). You will be amazed at how many things you can come up with.

The same labeling occurs in relation to your rear end as well. Those are fewer and generally more acceptable for general use. Yet, words have power; so, you might not refer to your "butt" as your "ass" lest your grandmother slap you. I long ago settled on the term “fanny” as it seemed the most innocuous term I could use. I use the term freely when appropriate with no fear of offending folks as I know it is as un-risqué as I can get…or at least that is what I used to think.

I learned this past week from two of my international colleagues – Arthur (U.K.) and Chris (New Zealand) – that “fanny” doesn’t mean quite the same thing in their countries. Indeed, in their countries “fanny” refers to a woman’s front parts not her back parts. So in the blink of an eye I went from safe to salacious. Oh my…it simply is not polite in the general public to ever reference your front parts (yes, it is true – my mother told me so); yet, there I was talking about my “fanny” (which Arthur and Chris would term my “bum”). Note to self – words have power and they are assigned that power sometimes culturally and sometimes on a case-by-case basis.

So, a little word of warning to those who, like me, believe they have arrived at an appropriate and un-offensive term…you may be in for a shock. Particularly if you say, “No more donuts – they are making my fanny bigger.” It calls up an unseemly visual and a bit of confusion.

I am just grateful that I didn’t offer up the retort “kiss my fanny” to any of Arthur’s witty comments…we could have had an international incident.

Day one hundred of the new forty – obla di obla da

CC