You got a lot of balls

[thedaffodils]

You got a lot of balls,Kid.You nail my wife. You break up my family.You burn down my business.

The text I quoted is from an American film. I looked it up in my dictionary and found "balls" also refers to a man's testicles.

So I think I can not apply " you got a lot of balls" to a woman. Am I right?

Thanks!

[BobK]

The text I quoted is from an American film. I looked it up my dictionary and found "balls" also refers to a man's testicles.

So I think I can not apply " you got a lot of balls" to a woman. Am I right?

Thanks!

Strictly, you're right. But the testicles are associated with testosterone, and thus with assertive/aggressive/competitive behaviour. So the metaphor 'to have balls' can refer sometimes to this sort of behaviour in anyone. I've heard things like 'Say what you like about Mrs Thatcher, she certainly had balls'. (Sometimes this is used for comic effect, but sometimes it's perfectly serious.)



b

[thedaffodils]

Strictly, you're right. But the testicles are associated with testosterone, and thus with assertive/aggressive/competitive behaviour. So the metaphor 'to have balls' can refer sometimes to this sort of behaviour in anyone. I've heard things like 'Say what you like about Mrs Thatcher, she certainly had balls'. (Sometimes this is used for comic effect, but sometimes it's perfectly serious.)


b

Hello BobK,

Thank you very much for your comment. The expression reminds me of the image of Chinese eunucks in Chinese TV series, who were castrated and became emasculate or effeminate.

This was not the first time that I read people used the similar expression. In another forum, a girl often kept asking male forumites to upload their own pictures by writing, "Do you have balls to show me your picture?"

Instinctively, I felt a bit embarrassed for her when I read the woman said that time and again. I wonder whether the expression - 'have balls' is acceptable in polite society. In other words, will a lady say that with such an expression? Thanks!

[BobK]

No, it's not what used to be called 'lady-like', and a lot of people still operate double standards (expecting different behaviour from men and from women). So even if it's not Politically Correct to say 'lady-like' it's often thought in polite society.



b

[thedaffodils]

No, it's not what used to be called 'lady-like', and a lot of people still operate double standards (expecting different behaviour from men and from women). So even if it's not Politically Correct to say 'lady-like' it's often thought in polite society.



b

Thank you for your help again. I am one of those people who operate double standards on behaviour from men and women respectively. I don't mind men say, "You have balls to ...", and such; of course, I don't enjoy these too much. But I think most Chinese women are generally not expected to behave these like men. When I was a little girl, I unintentionally learned some vulgar words, I didn't understand what they exactly mean, from some little playmates and shot my mouth off. My father heard and scolded me saying, "How could a woman say these vulgar words!"

[Barb_D]

I'd like to think I'm a lady, and it's not something I'd say under most circumstances.

However, I do use the words "ballsy" in that way a bit more freely. "Wow, that was a ballsy move." I would use that for both women and men, meaning that it was daring (and maybe just a bit fool-hardy). I still wouldn't use that with my minister or my mother, so to me it's still just a bit vulgar.

I would find a woman saying "Do you have the balls to..." to be a bit crude.

If you need a substitute:
That took balls -- That took gumption
That was ballsy -- That was sure brave
Do you have the balls...? -- Do you have the guts...? (Are you brave enough...?
He's sure got balls -- He has a lot of nerve

[thedaffodils]

Hi Barb_D,

Thank you for your comment and suggestion. Those substitutes are helpful.

[BobK]

..also a foreign language can make words like this sound a bit more acceptable. Some speakers of English might say 'He's got cojones' rather than the English; this may be because when they learn the Spanish word (in the works of, say, Ernest Hemingway), the meaning they learn first is the metaphorical one.

b

[Raymott]

..also a foreign language can make words like this sound a bit more acceptable. Some speakers of English might say 'He's got cojones' rather than the English; this may be because when they learn the Spanish word (in the works of, say, Ernest Hemingway), the meaning they learn first is the metaphorical one.

b

Bob, I guess you know the British TV show "Balls of Steel" where practical jokers (men and women) do outrageous things in public just for a few cheap laughs? The compare invites each joker onto the set before playing their tapes, and he asks "Why do you think you have balls of steel?". He asks both men and women.

[bhaisahab]

I have UK tv by satellite here in France, I've never heard of that tv show.