Diving Into Gay History’s Hole: The Dawn of Dick with AJ Sloan

May 17, 2023
AJ SLOAN

Imagine tuning into your favorite wank-bank website for a moment of self-care. As the foreplay commences, you unzip and begin to tune out of your day and into the play. Suddenly, you hear one onscreen hottie whisper “Yeah, babe… give me that penis. I want to taste every last inch of your gorgeous penis. Your penis is so deep inside me, I can feel your penis throbbing in my tight hole.” Yeah, no. We all know dozens of words synonymous with “penis,” without sounding like an ill-equipped sex-ed instructor. Of course “cock” comes to mind, along with “wood,” “rod,” “knob,” “dong,” “wang,” “disco stick,” “joystick,” and “prick,” but the one that we are going to be focusing on today is that good ol’ DICK.

The origin story of Dick is debatable, but for the sake of thoroughness let’s go back about a thousand years plus. The Germanic name “Richard” was introduced into the English lexicon during the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The name grew in popularity over the next two centuries, and was often abbreviated to “Ric.” The English, as cheeky as they are, commonly found nicknames in sing-song rhyming games, thus the birth of the name “Dick.”

By the 16th century, the name had become so common that it was being used similarly to the modern-day “John,” or “John Doe.” Examples of its use to refer to the archetypal common man are found in Shakespeare’s body of work and are also where Herman Melville got the name and title Moby Dick centuries later.

The word “dick” picked up a more sexual connotation in the mid-17th century as a slang term for a male sexual partner. It was seen in the 1665 work of satire The English Rouge penned by Richard Head (giggles in homo). He used the word in a comparable manner that we today would call someone a “himbo” or “man-ho.” Thank you, Mr. Dick Head, for your contribution to the collective gay vernacular.

So when did the word “dick” make the jump from “everyday man-slut” to “everyday man-slut’s cock?” Rumor has it that we owe this one again to the fantastically filthy minds of the Brits. Many etymologists believe that it was the British army that began using the word euphemistically to refer to their eager little helmeted flesh soldiers.

Leave it to the male population to circulate such naughty vocabulary over the next few decades for dick to take its proper throne in the potty-mouthed kingdom of dirty talk. Today, it’s almost impossible to watch any porn without hearing “You want this dick?” or “Give me that raw dick, daddy.” It isn’t too surprising after all, how it rolls off the tongue as easily as the real thing rolls in. Thank you, sluts of England, for your many contributions to sex-themed slang. What will you think of next?