Erectile Dysfunction

Term first used in the 1970s to replace ‘impotence’, which was felt to be too insulting, as it might imply that the afflicted were flaccid and powerless in all areas of life. ‘Erectile dysfunction’, by contrast, sounds soothingly neutral: a mere mechanical fault, fixable by a little blue pill.

Columnist renames the ‘erectile dysfunction’ industry the ‘unhappy pants business’

Data Visualizations
Related Terms
Related Episode

The Unspeak Dictionary exposes the meaning and historical context behind familiar Unspeak terms while crowdsourcing new terms into a collective database.

Select a term on the left to show its definition, reference links, and alternative definitions

Suggest a new Unspeak term, add an alternate definition or a new reference link

Vote on the best alternative definitions.

Discover related terms in the episode.

Explore various data visualizations that reflect the real-world usage of the selected term

Watch related episode