Having a horn.... having a boner... same same. The irony about boner is that humans are one of the few mammals without a penis bone (baculum) for assistance in errection. Almost all other primates have them.
Wait. That's what "horny" means?! I guess I owe my brass band an explanation. I've been starting every practice with "Time to get horny, dudes!" This is embarrassing.
The image at the top has a horn that resembles a shofar, a particular type of horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies. Though I'm not sure that was what you had in mind...
A usage of the term that combines the literal and metaphorical meanings is the name of a well-known brass unit fronted by trombonist Fred Wesley that appeared on many soul and funk records in the late 1970s- the Horny Horns.
I'm pretty sure it was George Clinton's doing- the members of the group, who had previously been with James Brown, first got tagged that when they were working with Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band.
Circling back to Esme's comment for a moment, I have no idea whether ancient mythology actually contributed to the word "horny," but animals with horns were often symbols of male virility. Bulls, for example, were associated with both Zeus and Poseidon, the two strongest gods, who also fathered several pages worth of children. Zeus even abducted Europa while in the shape of a bull, and that bull is sometimes equated with the constellation, Taurus.
Also, keeping in mind that goats, if you will pardon the expression, have horns, consider the satyrs--half man, half goat. They were horny, in the modern sense, all the time, virtually personifications of lust. So is Pan, who goes after everything that moves, with notoriously little caution. He accidentally tries to get it on with Heracles, who is at the time dressed as a woman as part of one of his punishments. That particular attempt didn't go well for Pan. In fact, many of his myths are humorous stories about attempts at sex that backfire. Later on, Pan's appearance is borrowed by Christian artists for Satan, who isn't exactly known for his sexual restraint.
And of course, we do have various antlered gods, especially in Celtic tradition, just as Esme points out.
The word may not come directly from such associations, but it certainly fits them.
Bill, the real value in the things I write is often in these little side conversations and comments. Thank you for enriching the story for everyone's benefit!
Gracious.......I was surprised to see that title in my inbox! I thought it might've been an OnlyFans reach-out. Color me only mildly disappointed!
Musically, though, who can forget the 1989 classic by 2 Live Crew, and their mercifully "sanitized" re-mix hit....🎵"Oooh, me so stricken with a feeling that, for some reason, resembles the protuberance of a farm animal or possibly a member of the elk family."🎵God bless the Crew for finally hitting the thesaurus.
Can't really recall hearing "horny" for the first time, Andrew, but a good friend in junior high (I was 13 in '68, as a f'rinstance), mentioned a phrase meaning something very similar to our colloquial "horny" usage: Had not heard it before, and have never heard it since, but is similarly (also) anatomically referenced: As in, one is "on the bone." I found that oddly titillating, probably only because it was the first time hearing it. We can thank one Seth Brown from Houston's Johnston Jr. High School, circa late-'60s for that!
And, thank you, Andrew! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wash my eyes out with soap!😱
Oh man, you could not get away from 2 Live Crew at my high school! That song was just everywhere... and of course, we kids loved it because it was dirty.
There's a gal comic who does a bit where she says they couldn't sing that song when she was in high school, unless or until they changed the words.....so, she started singing, "Ooh, me so hungry....me hungry long time!"
I think that was Anjela Johnson with "Me So Hungry." I get the Comedy channel on Sirius/XM satellite. As for misheard lyrics, longtime readers know I'm not a lyric-listener (hence, I've never had any use for, say, Bob Dylan). I'm just all about the sonic bombast.....how everything sounds together.
For me, all the lyrics are are just something to memorize in order to sing it (and, I did a lot of karaoke)! Remember, my intro to music was at age 8, watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in '64, with "She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Not exactly the beginning that would likely engender a lifelong search for meaningful lyrics in song!
Mondegreens in rock have been done quite a bit in recent years.
I thought that as a kid, too. When I first heard “Paperback Writer” on the radio (was 11 in ‘66), I was in the car, and could swear he was singing “Paperback rider,” as if flying atop a magic pocket-sized book!
How about starting a Goatfury thread where folks can offer up their longtime mondegreens?
You can't IMAGINE what you see and learn in high school if you're also in theatre. That too was fun...dirty but fun! Also my case was not as dirty as some cases... I saw a bit more then what any school would have taught though...that's certain. LOLOL NUDES anyone!?
LOL My grandfather would feel strange even when two animals were having sex on tv. and change the channel. This topic was a bit surprising but sex is actually the most natural thing in the world. Of course we're talking about being horny here but doesn't sex often start that way?
Well, it used to be. Today it means everyone, but back then it was just based on appearance, apparently. Also, I guess maybe horned animals are virile? There are some really good conversations here in the comments about all this.
There’s a scene in Coal Miner’s Daughter in which a young Loretta Lynn repeats a story (not knowing the meaning) about “bologna makes you horny” on-air at a local radio station. I was ten at the time, so I didn’t get the joke and had to ask my mom to explain what the fuss was about.
I recall hearing two different explanations for the sexual arousal meaning of “horny”:
1. A metaphor of rutting male deer
2. Somewhat related to #1: a holdover from pagan fertility cult rites involving the horned god Cernunnos. Mind you, I think I heard this from a modern-day Wiccan, and Wiccans have a tendency get a bit fanciful about the religious practices of pre-Christian Celts.
I think those are all good stories, but almost certainly not based in reality. That makes me wonder if there's a thread to unravel regarding where these kinds of false notions come from, kind of like urban legends, but with etymology.
I'm honestly not sure when I first heard the word horny. I was EXTREMELY ill growing up but I DO remember when I first learned about sex. I was taken to the theatre at 15yrs. probably because it would have been illegal to leave me home alone and I got HUGE crush on this guy in the show. I bought him a rose and put it on his make-up box but also talked with someone backstage about it. He told me that guy was Gay and I had NO CLUE what that meant.. I was 15 going on 16 at the time. Although, he told me to ask my parents what that meant, I knew not to. My parents were never the "Let's sit down and talk" type. Shoot! I learned what a tampon was from my sister. LOL Of course I also didn't know what 420 meant. My birthday is 4-20 and whenever I would mention that in school, kids would laugh. I NEVER got it. It's rather sad how my brain could take some things in but couldn't learn about other things. It's also HUGELY interesting to me! I was a very late bloomer too due to my health. That's when I learned about sex though and very soon after that's also when I got a boyfriend and girlfriend. Although my first girlfriend was on the phone so I don't know how much you can count that one. I truly thought that I was in love and thought more about the physical body more at that time. I had many after that were actually in person. Intelligence, understanding, etc. seems sexier today than it ever did when I was young. Talking about sex constantly isn't as much of a turn on as intelligence. In my mind today, sex for no reason isn't worth my time and is just wasting it. Anyway, interesting post.
One of the more interesting things for me over the last couple of decades is that I can begin to study my own past from quite a distance, and I think it's completely fascinating how I grew up. All those deficiencies and blind spots have made me who I am, so I feel a strong obligation to understand myself so that I can, in turn, understand the world better.
This used to be a silver lining, the the more the time passes, the more interesting and fun it gets.
Interesting perspective there Andrew. I must admit that I've always envied those with a normal upbringing. It may come with life lessons those such as yourself later find fascinating but many were at least blessed with the chance to be a child. I tend to wonder what that would have been like. Although, my childhood could have been MUCH MUCH worse. I think everyone can actually say that their childhood could have been much worse. Life in itself IS a lesson and I realise that everything does happen for a reason but some lessons are too traumatising to look back on. I can't and never will say that I understand the reasons for that trauma. The theatre actually took me away from that to a degree. Although, some things probably made it pretty much impossible for some to even stand a chance today. See YOU can look back on your past and it not traumatise you as much. I can't do that. I can simply keep going and refuse to look back.
I wouldn't say that my upbringing was normal, exactly... but I certainly do get your meaning. It might be more attainable after a few more decades, too. I know I wasn't really able to assess where I came from until I was around 40, at least not without reliving some of that old trauma.
Well, I'm sorry if your upbringing wasn't normal and I'm glad that you can relive it today. I saw a video of Celine Dion having a seizure due to Stiff Person Syndrome. It took me right back to a time in high school when I had a seizure JUST like that only the kids around me laughed while one acted like they had a seizure. You're awake during them and can see, hear everything but you can't do a thing about it because your stiff all over. Those were the worst kind of seizures I ever had. At least when I had a seizure on-stage they helped me and didn't just laugh. That was just ONE event in my high school. I've blacked out many. I know that was at a time when most kids were excited about graduation, etc. I went home crying at night until there were days I didn't have time to cry because of a rehearsal, etc. I'm sure your upbringing may not have been normal but my thinking or talking about my upbringing doesn't have to do with yours. It's not even close, if you TRULY got the meaning of my words, you would have known that. You aren't the only one there but that is why to ME your upbringing was normal. Unless you were constantly abused, harmed yourself while others pointed and laughed your upbringing was normal to me.
You're right - our childhoods were surely very different, and I certainly do see that! I just wanted to help by sharing something that I've observed, that time can make my own trauma less repulsive to study. You have to take care of yourself and you know yourself best, so listening to what your own mind says is the key!
Also: thanks for sharing your story. I appreciate that the comments on my stuff are lively and encourage thoughtful dialogue; that's everything to me.
Thanks. I try. I'm thrown at how much to share because I think that truth scares some people. Honestly, some will treat you like a child, which is RIDICULOUS! I haven't watched Celine Dion's recent documentary because just this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L6Z3PF-w0 bothers me so much! I'm so glad that I don't suffer daily like that today. I mainly have to deal with the side effects from it. I can't help but wonder how sexy am I now? I bet the facts of my life gets everyone horny as hell. LOLOL No worries! What didn't kill me made me stronger! Besides, I probably have the strength from some in my blood for a reason right?
Slightly off-topic, I would like to share the sadness I felt when I learned that horns on helmets (aka badass Vikings) are something a costume designer made up. Thanks for nuthin Substack!
I'm momentarily sad that something I wanted to be true isn't true, too... but it does pass, and then you get to sort of lord that knowledge over others (very quietly, of course).
"Ha!", you'll think. "I know better than those horns!"
We had a convoy of trucker protestors clogging up downtown Ottawa two years ago, that spent a lot of time tooting their own horns. Not sure if that can be describes as boing 'horny', although I'm sure there was lots of testosterone.
I have recently been curious about the intersection of etymology and inclusive language. Recently I was called out for professional use of the word “chief.” As in chief executive officer. I am attempting not to dismiss as silly woke-ness, since I am of the temperament and age to have invented wokeness. I think my unease is that we are swimming upstream in some cases, like this one, against language formation and language evolution. Thoughts?
Language is very, very fluid! I think this is a great example of this, and it's certainly important (IMO) to keep this nature in mind. As a side note, the word "chief" does long pre-date European encounters with native Americans, but because of the wildly pervasive nature of television during the 20th century, I think this word is actually associated with that meaning more than all others, at least in the minds of many.
With all of this said, my own personal framework is to give as much of the benefit of the doubt vis a vis language use and/or requests to modify language. I know I won't get this in return, but the onus is on me to be more patient here, simply because I can see a lot more of the picture.
Haha. I like the editor note about Poe’s Law. This has been a topic of much discussion as of late amongst my friends so it feels very topical. Being horny but not desperate enough to act upon such feelings or failure to make the proper connections.
It is a funny word, and I can’t remember the first time I heard the term, but I do remember the very first time I associated arousal with the term. I also was… 🤔 in middle school. 🙃
Having a horn.... having a boner... same same. The irony about boner is that humans are one of the few mammals without a penis bone (baculum) for assistance in errection. Almost all other primates have them.
This is why we can't have nice things.
U stiff the woody! There's so many aphorisms wrapped around the horn
Mess with the bull get the horn
Sail the horn
This is too much and too great 👍
Wait. That's what "horny" means?! I guess I owe my brass band an explanation. I've been starting every practice with "Time to get horny, dudes!" This is embarrassing.
I was going to point out the brass connection, too. Andrew is so out of touch with horniness.
Fine, I will listen to more Herb Albert and ska.
Brass Horn?
Yes, like trumpet.
He wouldn't know horny if it played him a Happy Birthday tune.
Hahaha
The image at the top has a horn that resembles a shofar, a particular type of horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies. Though I'm not sure that was what you had in mind...
A usage of the term that combines the literal and metaphorical meanings is the name of a well-known brass unit fronted by trombonist Fred Wesley that appeared on many soul and funk records in the late 1970s- the Horny Horns.
I was shooting for more of a gjallarhorn look, but thanks for the heads up.
"The Horny Horns" is an incredible name!
I'm pretty sure it was George Clinton's doing- the members of the group, who had previously been with James Brown, first got tagged that when they were working with Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band.
Genius.
Circling back to Esme's comment for a moment, I have no idea whether ancient mythology actually contributed to the word "horny," but animals with horns were often symbols of male virility. Bulls, for example, were associated with both Zeus and Poseidon, the two strongest gods, who also fathered several pages worth of children. Zeus even abducted Europa while in the shape of a bull, and that bull is sometimes equated with the constellation, Taurus.
Also, keeping in mind that goats, if you will pardon the expression, have horns, consider the satyrs--half man, half goat. They were horny, in the modern sense, all the time, virtually personifications of lust. So is Pan, who goes after everything that moves, with notoriously little caution. He accidentally tries to get it on with Heracles, who is at the time dressed as a woman as part of one of his punishments. That particular attempt didn't go well for Pan. In fact, many of his myths are humorous stories about attempts at sex that backfire. Later on, Pan's appearance is borrowed by Christian artists for Satan, who isn't exactly known for his sexual restraint.
And of course, we do have various antlered gods, especially in Celtic tradition, just as Esme points out.
The word may not come directly from such associations, but it certainly fits them.
Bill, the real value in the things I write is often in these little side conversations and comments. Thank you for enriching the story for everyone's benefit!
I keep telling Zeus to find someone to settle down with but he never does. Incorrigible.
Zeus is https://i.giphy.com/Ll7PYy77vsffO.webp
Lol
Gracious.......I was surprised to see that title in my inbox! I thought it might've been an OnlyFans reach-out. Color me only mildly disappointed!
Musically, though, who can forget the 1989 classic by 2 Live Crew, and their mercifully "sanitized" re-mix hit....🎵"Oooh, me so stricken with a feeling that, for some reason, resembles the protuberance of a farm animal or possibly a member of the elk family."🎵God bless the Crew for finally hitting the thesaurus.
Can't really recall hearing "horny" for the first time, Andrew, but a good friend in junior high (I was 13 in '68, as a f'rinstance), mentioned a phrase meaning something very similar to our colloquial "horny" usage: Had not heard it before, and have never heard it since, but is similarly (also) anatomically referenced: As in, one is "on the bone." I found that oddly titillating, probably only because it was the first time hearing it. We can thank one Seth Brown from Houston's Johnston Jr. High School, circa late-'60s for that!
And, thank you, Andrew! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wash my eyes out with soap!😱
Oh man, you could not get away from 2 Live Crew at my high school! That song was just everywhere... and of course, we kids loved it because it was dirty.
There's a gal comic who does a bit where she says they couldn't sing that song when she was in high school, unless or until they changed the words.....so, she started singing, "Ooh, me so hungry....me hungry long time!"
I love that. Brad, you should totally do a piece on misheard lyrics!
I think that was Anjela Johnson with "Me So Hungry." I get the Comedy channel on Sirius/XM satellite. As for misheard lyrics, longtime readers know I'm not a lyric-listener (hence, I've never had any use for, say, Bob Dylan). I'm just all about the sonic bombast.....how everything sounds together.
For me, all the lyrics are are just something to memorize in order to sing it (and, I did a lot of karaoke)! Remember, my intro to music was at age 8, watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in '64, with "She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Not exactly the beginning that would likely engender a lifelong search for meaningful lyrics in song!
Mondegreens in rock have been done quite a bit in recent years.
Good point. Maybe I'll just write about my own misinterpretations, and how they can be fun! "There's a bathroom on the right" is probably my fave.
I thought that as a kid, too. When I first heard “Paperback Writer” on the radio (was 11 in ‘66), I was in the car, and could swear he was singing “Paperback rider,” as if flying atop a magic pocket-sized book!
How about starting a Goatfury thread where folks can offer up their longtime mondegreens?
You can't IMAGINE what you see and learn in high school if you're also in theatre. That too was fun...dirty but fun! Also my case was not as dirty as some cases... I saw a bit more then what any school would have taught though...that's certain. LOLOL NUDES anyone!?
LOL My grandfather would feel strange even when two animals were having sex on tv. and change the channel. This topic was a bit surprising but sex is actually the most natural thing in the world. Of course we're talking about being horny here but doesn't sex often start that way?
So horny is just for penises, Not fair! This sounds like something Shakespeare would have had something to do with.
Well, it used to be. Today it means everyone, but back then it was just based on appearance, apparently. Also, I guess maybe horned animals are virile? There are some really good conversations here in the comments about all this.
There’s a scene in Coal Miner’s Daughter in which a young Loretta Lynn repeats a story (not knowing the meaning) about “bologna makes you horny” on-air at a local radio station. I was ten at the time, so I didn’t get the joke and had to ask my mom to explain what the fuss was about.
Dang, you could even pinpoint the moment when you first heard the word!
I recall hearing two different explanations for the sexual arousal meaning of “horny”:
1. A metaphor of rutting male deer
2. Somewhat related to #1: a holdover from pagan fertility cult rites involving the horned god Cernunnos. Mind you, I think I heard this from a modern-day Wiccan, and Wiccans have a tendency get a bit fanciful about the religious practices of pre-Christian Celts.
I think those are all good stories, but almost certainly not based in reality. That makes me wonder if there's a thread to unravel regarding where these kinds of false notions come from, kind of like urban legends, but with etymology.
I'm honestly not sure when I first heard the word horny. I was EXTREMELY ill growing up but I DO remember when I first learned about sex. I was taken to the theatre at 15yrs. probably because it would have been illegal to leave me home alone and I got HUGE crush on this guy in the show. I bought him a rose and put it on his make-up box but also talked with someone backstage about it. He told me that guy was Gay and I had NO CLUE what that meant.. I was 15 going on 16 at the time. Although, he told me to ask my parents what that meant, I knew not to. My parents were never the "Let's sit down and talk" type. Shoot! I learned what a tampon was from my sister. LOL Of course I also didn't know what 420 meant. My birthday is 4-20 and whenever I would mention that in school, kids would laugh. I NEVER got it. It's rather sad how my brain could take some things in but couldn't learn about other things. It's also HUGELY interesting to me! I was a very late bloomer too due to my health. That's when I learned about sex though and very soon after that's also when I got a boyfriend and girlfriend. Although my first girlfriend was on the phone so I don't know how much you can count that one. I truly thought that I was in love and thought more about the physical body more at that time. I had many after that were actually in person. Intelligence, understanding, etc. seems sexier today than it ever did when I was young. Talking about sex constantly isn't as much of a turn on as intelligence. In my mind today, sex for no reason isn't worth my time and is just wasting it. Anyway, interesting post.
One of the more interesting things for me over the last couple of decades is that I can begin to study my own past from quite a distance, and I think it's completely fascinating how I grew up. All those deficiencies and blind spots have made me who I am, so I feel a strong obligation to understand myself so that I can, in turn, understand the world better.
This used to be a silver lining, the the more the time passes, the more interesting and fun it gets.
Interesting perspective there Andrew. I must admit that I've always envied those with a normal upbringing. It may come with life lessons those such as yourself later find fascinating but many were at least blessed with the chance to be a child. I tend to wonder what that would have been like. Although, my childhood could have been MUCH MUCH worse. I think everyone can actually say that their childhood could have been much worse. Life in itself IS a lesson and I realise that everything does happen for a reason but some lessons are too traumatising to look back on. I can't and never will say that I understand the reasons for that trauma. The theatre actually took me away from that to a degree. Although, some things probably made it pretty much impossible for some to even stand a chance today. See YOU can look back on your past and it not traumatise you as much. I can't do that. I can simply keep going and refuse to look back.
I wouldn't say that my upbringing was normal, exactly... but I certainly do get your meaning. It might be more attainable after a few more decades, too. I know I wasn't really able to assess where I came from until I was around 40, at least not without reliving some of that old trauma.
Well, I'm sorry if your upbringing wasn't normal and I'm glad that you can relive it today. I saw a video of Celine Dion having a seizure due to Stiff Person Syndrome. It took me right back to a time in high school when I had a seizure JUST like that only the kids around me laughed while one acted like they had a seizure. You're awake during them and can see, hear everything but you can't do a thing about it because your stiff all over. Those were the worst kind of seizures I ever had. At least when I had a seizure on-stage they helped me and didn't just laugh. That was just ONE event in my high school. I've blacked out many. I know that was at a time when most kids were excited about graduation, etc. I went home crying at night until there were days I didn't have time to cry because of a rehearsal, etc. I'm sure your upbringing may not have been normal but my thinking or talking about my upbringing doesn't have to do with yours. It's not even close, if you TRULY got the meaning of my words, you would have known that. You aren't the only one there but that is why to ME your upbringing was normal. Unless you were constantly abused, harmed yourself while others pointed and laughed your upbringing was normal to me.
You're right - our childhoods were surely very different, and I certainly do see that! I just wanted to help by sharing something that I've observed, that time can make my own trauma less repulsive to study. You have to take care of yourself and you know yourself best, so listening to what your own mind says is the key!
Also: thanks for sharing your story. I appreciate that the comments on my stuff are lively and encourage thoughtful dialogue; that's everything to me.
Thanks. I try. I'm thrown at how much to share because I think that truth scares some people. Honestly, some will treat you like a child, which is RIDICULOUS! I haven't watched Celine Dion's recent documentary because just this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L6Z3PF-w0 bothers me so much! I'm so glad that I don't suffer daily like that today. I mainly have to deal with the side effects from it. I can't help but wonder how sexy am I now? I bet the facts of my life gets everyone horny as hell. LOLOL No worries! What didn't kill me made me stronger! Besides, I probably have the strength from some in my blood for a reason right?
Slightly off-topic, I would like to share the sadness I felt when I learned that horns on helmets (aka badass Vikings) are something a costume designer made up. Thanks for nuthin Substack!
Hollywood myth-busting at its best!
🥺
I'm momentarily sad that something I wanted to be true isn't true, too... but it does pass, and then you get to sort of lord that knowledge over others (very quietly, of course).
"Ha!", you'll think. "I know better than those horns!"
We had a convoy of trucker protestors clogging up downtown Ottawa two years ago, that spent a lot of time tooting their own horns. Not sure if that can be describes as boing 'horny', although I'm sure there was lots of testosterone.
Yes! Good additional example!
I have recently been curious about the intersection of etymology and inclusive language. Recently I was called out for professional use of the word “chief.” As in chief executive officer. I am attempting not to dismiss as silly woke-ness, since I am of the temperament and age to have invented wokeness. I think my unease is that we are swimming upstream in some cases, like this one, against language formation and language evolution. Thoughts?
Language is very, very fluid! I think this is a great example of this, and it's certainly important (IMO) to keep this nature in mind. As a side note, the word "chief" does long pre-date European encounters with native Americans, but because of the wildly pervasive nature of television during the 20th century, I think this word is actually associated with that meaning more than all others, at least in the minds of many.
With all of this said, my own personal framework is to give as much of the benefit of the doubt vis a vis language use and/or requests to modify language. I know I won't get this in return, but the onus is on me to be more patient here, simply because I can see a lot more of the picture.
I hope this helps! This is NOT easy stuff.
Haha. I like the editor note about Poe’s Law. This has been a topic of much discussion as of late amongst my friends so it feels very topical. Being horny but not desperate enough to act upon such feelings or failure to make the proper connections.
It is a funny word, and I can’t remember the first time I heard the term, but I do remember the very first time I associated arousal with the term. I also was… 🤔 in middle school. 🙃
Middle school is the weirdest sausage machine we all go through.