Today, I’m going to talk about balls.
I was having a conversation about the origin of the phrase “balls to the wall” (as you do), with a friend the other day and immediately jumped on the chance to write a post about it. And, as it turns out, there’s some controversy over this one. Borderline-inappropriate language and controversy! Wee!
We generally use “balls to the wall” (sometimes “balls-to-the-wall”) to mean “give it all you’ve got”. Maximum effort.
- They’re really going to have to go balls to the wall to win this game.
The most popular origin-story for “balls to the wall” comes from aviation. Some of the controls in an airplane are sticks with ball-shapes on top for grip. Like the throttle, for example. Pushing the throttle forward means you go faster. Now if you push it forward, you push it toward the front of the cockpit, or firewall. Another ball-on-a-stick in an airplane controls the angle of the plane. Push both balls to the wall, and you’re in a high-speed dive. Pretty badass.
The second origin-story comes from steam engines. There’s a funny-looking little gizmo called a centrifugal governor that controls the speed of the engine, shown below.
Have a look at this super-basic video, to see it in action. When the spinning balls on the governor come out (or towards the walls of it’s compartment), the engine goes faster. Full-steam ahead.
“Balls-out” is another term that can mean essentially the same thing as “balls to the wall”, to go “all-out”. This term is also said to come from the spinning balls in a steam engine. Which fits better, I think. Can we just give balls-out to steam engines and balls to the wall to airplanes?
I never considered for a moment that either of these expressions were associated with anything other than male anatomy. Now I feel like I’ve got a pass to use them, regardless of my company. Though I might still hold off on dropping either in a job interview. That is, unless I’m feeling really balls-out.
Your Word Nerd 