Sean seems to have forgotten The Stranger’s first semi-successful effort to re-name the vagina. It was in an early Savage Love column, one that that earned me much praise from the lesbian/feminist community and fan mail by the truckload: “A canned ham dropped from a great height.” Sadly, the phrase didn’t catch on. It is a mouthful, as they say, and the acronym—ACHDFAGH—is unpronounceable.

And I believe the contest Sean refers to wasn’t about renaming the vagina per se, but instead about coming up with some pet names—besides “pussyâ€� and “cuntâ€�—that could be used, new slang that didn’t sound degrading or profane. There are so many words for penis—cock, dick, baloneyponie, johnson, purple-headed-yogurt-slinger, stick-pussy, etc.—and comparatively few for vagina. We hoped to correct this imbalance and achieve some sort of genital-nickname parity.