"Go _balls-out_"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Cf. "go full-bore" and "go full-balls."

JL


On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 10:39 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> 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:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > 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:
>> >
>> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > > -----------------------
>> > > 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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>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Chris Blankenship
>> Assistant Professor,
>> Director of Composition
>> Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism
>> Emporia State University
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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