From Kitty to Vajayjay: Why So Many Euphemisms? Comment to Win $150 Spa Gift Card

My two younger sisters and I were told that it was our "private place". When we asked what boys had we were told that they had "jobs". Now my sisters and our friends laugh about calling penises "jobs"! I call mine my hoo-ha because it is funny. In high school and college, my friends and I called it our "box" or our "loo".

My mom went to an all-girls college in the 1950s called, yes, Beaver College. She could never understand why they changed the name. Her daughters had to explain this to her repeatedly. :)

I have to say, I like their new packaging ...the bottles are much prettier. I called it a "Tutti" when I was a kid... until the Facts of Life came on TV and I cried to my mom that the girl's name was vagina. lol. She reassured me I was the one who was wrong.

I have a friend with two daughters, and she called it "the cookie." Which just cracks me up to no end. She said when they were babies she'd go, "Don't forget to clean the cookie!"

I honestly don't remember what we called the vagina growing up. Private parts, I think. My first experience of it being called anything else was high school, when I had friends use "twat." That REALLY threw me. I was pretty clueless back then, to be honest.

I call it, "My hoo-ha." much to my husband's amusement.

too funny! my mom never talked to much about us girls body parts, I learned it on the streets, and alot of it was just wrong lol. parents need to talk to their young children!

How about box?

I like the term "lady parts." It sounds so 1950s.

i typically call it what it is, a vagina.

I never heard many of those - I like the pancake.

Hilarious. I always say the hooch instead of cooch

Never heard it called pancakes or bebe before. It's funny, we never referred to "it" growing up. And even today, I guess I call it, "it".

"...I ate sausage instead." Best line ever. Well done! In fact, I'm going to see how many sentences I can add that to today, just to improve them.

When my son and my best friend's son were about about 3 or 4 years old we overheard them talking. My best friends son told my son that one day he was going to grow up and marry a woman with a lasagna. My son, who has always loved food promptly replied, "oh yeah, so am I"

I laughed so hard reading this.

I never really heard the word used in conversation unti lately. In these times anything goes.

My daughter called it her "Gagina" since she was old enough to learn the names of her body parts. For some reason it just sounds more melodious to us than Vagina so haven't made a fuss about correcting her. My daughter is five now and knows the correct word but I don't think we'll ever forget "Gagina" at our house.

My mom was a nurse and she taught us that our female body parts were vaginas. I had no problem with the term until one day in sex-ed class when I used it and all the other girls giggled. Though I know now that it was nervous laughter because they weren't comfortable with the term, it still makes me nervous to use it in front of anyone who isn't a very close friend or a doctor.

This post literally made me laugh out loud! Kudos to Summer's Eve for sponsoring this contest and keeping it real. Since I don't have any girls (just my two boys), we've only ever referred to it as a vagina, because we don't mention it often. Unfortunately, my son doesn't understand the concept yet and thinks his baby brother came out of my butt!

My mom calls it your cha-cha.....no clue why but it makes us laugh!

nrdunningATgmailDOTcom

I can say we were able to say to talk about anything including Vagina when I was growing up. I had parents that were easy to talk to and I can't ever remember not being able to ask about the vagina or anything else, thank god. I just think is is our own perception of things and words that holds us back.

gmissycat at yahoo dot com

I laughed s hard about the "pancake" and "bebe" but then realized we just use the term bottom and decided maybe I should rethink this before they get any older:)

I love the phrase Stephanie Miller uses "lady's panty parts." LOL.

OMG. THAT was hilarious. I will never look at pancakes the same way. I'm thinking that my mother never actually referred to "it" by name. But as kids of the 70s, for some odd reason, we called it our "Mary Tyler Moore."

I was raised in a conservative family and the word "vagina" was a foreign language to me. Vagina was often referred to "little sister" in my native language/ culture. I'm just glad that in real life, I have 2 brothers! So, no one get confused with who I'm calling.

"Pee pee" - I could just cringe. I worked at a women's health clinic for 3 1/2 years and am used to calling it a vagina, but women in my life have all sorts of names for it. "Monkey" is among my favorite. [I would never use that term seriously].

It really wasn't mentioned in my home other than private part

I once read a column by a woman who complained about how ugly the word 'vagina' is - how it should be called something prettier, like 'symphony'. I like that idea. I HATE the word 'va-jay-jay' - that's just stupid. Growing up we called it....nothing. Not even privates. It just wasn't mentioned. Maybe if we absolutely HAD to refer to it, we just said "down there." We had a variety of names for a penis, but nothing for vagina. I guess that's why I still dislike any of the words we use in our culture - because none of them are a beautiful as "symphony."

I either have a crummy memory, or this body part was *never* referred to around the house when I was growing up. Perhaps both.

Like karina2, my thoughts about what to call both female and male genitalia are now driven by my concerns as a parent. Chief among them, that both my kids have no shame about their bodies, and respect theirs and those of others. So. All cutsie eumphemisms are gone (though I did fancy "coochie" in my pre-parental adult years, mostly since it sounded fun), and it's penis & vagina all day, every day, at our household. So to speak.

And thanks for the enlightenment, jennyhasquads: I have been using the word "hoo-ha" (perty darn close homonym to "who-ha") for *years* in all kinds of company, innocently thinking it was a synonym to "whatnot." Erp.

I remember spending the night with a kid once whose mom referred to it as her "front butt".

When I grew up we called it Our Privates and I couldnt believe men had what we had, Privates. Now I know better.We werent all the same. But one thing I could never understand was every once in a while I would hear My father say My Mother fell off the roof again. I thought wow she falls every month. But She never has any marks on her body like breaking a leg or something. I thought She was Superwoman, It just never stopped Her. After wards I understood what He was talking about. It sounds so funny now.

I say the word Vagina. It seems odd that Oprah and a show all about medical jargon both use 'vajayjay' instead of the correct term. Especially when Oprah's show reaches a wide part of the world and can be a teaching tool. I'm not sure why we seem to be somewhat embarrassed as to the parts of our body. I wish we could all be proud of our bodies no matter what and always use the correct terms.

I have to say I find the word "vajayjay" amusing. It's just funny to say. And I found this NY Times article from a few years back about why it captured the popular imagination so quickly interesting, as well http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/fashion/28vajayj... However, I only use vajayjay at times for comedic effect. In any serious discussion I definitely say "vagina." And I aced the ID the V quiz - so I'm proud to say that I know all the parts and their proper names.

When I was growing up we referred to the vagina as our private area. I still say private area when I have talked to my daughter. She knows the proper name for it.

I have always referred to it as my "private area". Of course that could be confusing because there are quite a few areas on my body that I consider private! Sometimes I also refer to it as "down there" - real specific:)

In middle school I called it a cooch. I feel so silly thinking about that now. Why is it so taboo to say vagina? I'm a new mom of a 5 month old daughter and when she gets older I want to make sure she's educated about her body.

As a little girl----it was a whoo hoo. haha...just cracks me up thinking about it. now that I'm a mom i've tried my hardest to teach my children the proper names for their body parts. i mean....why is it so hard to say vagina and penis?:) anyway...here's to ending the crazy names!