"Go _balls-out_"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe it's just an imaginative pun on "go all-out," with a strong dose of
testosterone.

JL


On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 9:45 AM, Chris Blankenship <
c.n.blankenship at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Chris Blankenship <c.n.blankenship at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Go _balls-out_"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> When my circle of friends from undergrad days (about a decade ago) used the
> phrase "balls out," it meant that the person was doing something high risk,
> high reward. The way I understood it was that having one's vulnerables out
> in the open risked damage, but indicated showmanship or bravado. It sounds
> right to me to say it could be used for speed, but I don't recall it being
> a common context for it.
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 7:32 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "Go _balls-out_"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > It certainly is possible, but I've never seen any evidence to suggest it
> > was true.
> >
> > Or that any alternative explanation was, for that matter. I mean, why
> would
> > anybody going fast have his testicles out? And if so, why just his
> > testicles?
> >
> > This phrase seems to antedate "balls-to-the-wall."
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 2:00 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
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> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      "Go _balls-out_"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > According to the History Channel, this is the source of that term:
> > >
> > > W:pedia -
> > > "A governor, or speed-limiter, is a
> > > device<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine>used to measure and
> > > regulate the
> > > speed <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed> of a
> > > machine<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine>,
> > > such as an engine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine>. A classic
> > example
> > > is the centrifugal governor<
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor>,
> > > also known as the Watt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt> or
> > > fly-ball governor, which uses weights mounted on spring-loaded arms to
> > > determine how fast a shaft is spinning, and then uses proportional
> > > control<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_control>to regulate
> > > the shaft speed.
> > > "
> > >
> > > When a fly-ball-governed machine is operating "balls-out," then it's
> > > producing all of the power that it (safely) can. Whence the expression.
> > >
> > > You buy that, Jon? I spent fifteen years working in a power plant with
> > five
> > > steam turbines, each with a fly-ball governor, and didn't once hear the
> > > expression, "balls-out." But that could easily have been sheer
> > > happenstance, since the turbines were never run balls-out, there being
> no
> > > need for that.
> > >
> > > Youneverknow.
> > >
> > > --Wilson
> > > -----
> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> > > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > -Mark Twain
> > >
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>
>
> --
> Chris Blankenship
> Assistant Professor,
> Director of Composition
> Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism
> Emporia State University
>
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