"Go _balls-out_"

[Chris Blankenship]

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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> --
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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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