Synonyms for sex organs in Spanish (cp. to English)

[Federico Escobar]

A groundbreaking new dictionary of the Spanish spoken in the Americas
(called "Diccionario de americanismos," or DA) has produced some interesting
transnational information about Spanish. For instance, an abbreviated
thesaurus at the end of the DA shows which words have the greatest number of
synonyms. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two words with most synonyms are (in
that order) "vulva" and "penis". There are well over 300 synonyms for each.
In a conference about the new dictionary, one of its chief lexicographers
said that this was a huge number. But, in light of comparative linguistics,
is it? These 300+ words are not necessarily well understood everywhere in
the Americas, but they are all current, both verbally and in print,
somewhere in the Americas. For those who are more familiar with slang and
regional dictionaries, is that a big figure, comparatively? English has its
fair share of sex-organ language; I just don't know if currently used terms
reach above the 300 mark.



Another interesting fact, also presented as a significant achievement by the
lexicographer who spoke about the dictionary: their studies revealed that
there’s a core of "Common Spanish" (vocabulary that is understood everywhere
in the Spanish-speaking world) that includes over 80% of the total number of
words used in Spanish. Is that really jubilantly high, or just about
average? (Sure, one must take into account the wide and well-differentiated
area covered by Spanish.)


F.

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