Originally posted by Jones, Nikka
Yes indeed! there is one particular phrase that makes me reach for the 'close' button on a story and it is "engorged manhood" or any such silly descriptions some male writers are fond of using. It makes them appear to be obsessed by their erections.

I mean we are all of legal age, otherwise we would not be here. Just called what it is: an erection, and tell me what it will do, not what it looks like.

I must plead Guilty as charged as far as using that and similar descriptions goes. But in fairness, Nikka, doesn't telling 'what it looks like' (as regards all the 'naughty bits', not just the male erection, of course) play a huge role in pornography?

But I have my own bete noires, too. The word 'arse' (not the thing itself, mind you) is a turn-off for me. In fact I rarely use any of the Anglo-Saxon vulgarisms for the female anatomy when writing in the third person (although the dialog of my more ruffian-like characters shows no such compunctions).

Another curious thing is how some feminine names "sound" wholly un-erotic to me -- Mary, Alice, Frances, Maude, Jane, to name a few.

Whereas their cognates - Maria, Alicia, Francesca, Madeleine, and Jeannette 'sound' more alluring to me.

Strange how we each have our own quirky little tastes.

Nikka, by the way, is a lovely name, in this regard. ;-)


Boccaccio