Baseball metaphors for sex - wikipedia Baseball metaphors for sex This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 17 July 2017. Among American adolescents, baseball metaphors for sex are often used as euphemisms for the degree of physical intimacy achieved in sexual encounters or relationships. In the metaphor, first prevalent in the aftermath of World War II, sexual activities are described as if they are actions in a game of baseball. Contents 1 Details and popularity 2 Sex education 3 Alternative views 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Details and popularity Among the most commonly used metaphors are the bases describing levels of physical intimacy ( generally from a heterosexual perspective ). Definitions vary, but the following are typical usages of the terms : First base -- mouth - to - mouth kissing, especially French kissing ; Second base -- skin - to - skin touching / kissing of the breasts ; in some contexts, it may instead refer to touching any erogenous zones through the clothes ( i.e., not actually touching the skin ), or manual stimulation of the genitals ; Third base -- touching below the waist ( without sexual intercourse ) ; in some contexts, it may instead refer to oral stimulation of the genitals ; Home run ( home base or scoring ) -- `` full '' sexual intercourse. Additionally, Strikeout -- a failure to engage in any form of foreplay or other sexual activity ; Additionally, there are two metaphors used to refer to men who have sex with men : Pitching -- the man performing anal sex Catching -- the man receiving anal sex Batting average - The number of times a male has ejaculated by the actions of another person over the number of times he has masturbated i.e. Sexual actions / Masturbation = Batting Average Other similar metaphors include : Switch hitter -- a bisexual individual, referencing a player who can bat from either side Playing for the other team -- usually indicating a person is gay or lesbian Playing for both teams -- usually indicating a person is bisexual The metaphors are found variously in popular American culture, with one well - known example in the Meat Loaf song `` Paradise by the Dashboard Light '', which describes a young couple `` making out '', with a voice - over commentary, by baseball announcer Phil Rizzuto, of a portion of a baseball game as a metaphor for the couple 's activities. A similar example can be found in Billy Joel 's song `` Zanzibar '' in which he compares himself to Pete Rose and sings the lines `` Me, I 'm trying just to get to second base and I 'd steal it if she only gave the sign. She 's gon na give the go ahead, the inning is n't over yet for me. '' David Letterman chronicled many of these in his `` Top Ten Baseball Euphemisms for Sex '' -- a recurring theme on the Top Ten Lists featured on the late - night talk shows he hosted before his retirement. Sex education Educators have found the baseball metaphor an effective instructional tool when providing sex education to middle school students. Leman and Bell, in their book A Chicken 's Guide to Talking Turkey With Your Kids About Sex, make use of it to aid parents in the discussion of puberty with their children, dividing the topics into `` first base '' ( `` Changes from the neck up '' ), `` second base '' ( `` Changes from the neck to the waist '' ), `` third base '' ( `` Changes from the waist down '' ), and `` home plate '' ( `` The Big ' It ' '' ). Alternative views This sequence of `` running the bases '' is often regarded as a script, or pattern, for young people who are experimenting with sexual relationships. The script may have slightly changed since the 1960s. Kohl and Francoeur state that with the growing emphasis in the 1990s on safe sex to expand sex beyond heterosexual penetrative intercourse, the `` home run '' has taken on the additional dimension of oral sex. Richters and Rissel conversely state that `` third base '' is now sometimes considered to comprise oral sex as part of the accepted pattern of activities, as a precursor to `` full '' ( i.e. penetrative ) sex. See also Baseball portal Sexuality portal Glossary of English - language idioms derived from baseball References Jump up ^ Hellermann, Steven L. ; Markovits, Andrei S. ( 2001 ). Offside : Soccer and American Exceptionalism. Princeton University Press. p. 66. ISBN 069107447X. Jump up ^ Romaine, Suzanne ( 1999 ). Communicating Gender. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 210. ISBN 0 - 8058 - 2926 - 1. Jump up ^ Jezer, Marty ( 1982 ). The Dark Ages, Life in the United States, 1945 -- 1960. South End Press. p. 248. ISBN 0 - 89608 - 127 - 3. Jump up ^ Levkoff, Logan ( 2012 ). `` Sex Talk Among Teens ''. Third Base Ai n't What it Used to Be : What Your Kids Are Learning About Sex Today -- and How to Teach Them to Become Sexually Healthy Adults. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781453262924. Dalzell, Tom ( 2008 ). The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge. ISBN 9781134194780. Rutter, Virginia & Schwartz, Pepper ( 2012 ). The Gender of Sexuality : Exploring Sexual Possibilities. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742570030. Jump up ^ Pearlman, Jeff ( 2007 - 08 - 29 ). `` Phil and Meat Loaf will always have `` Paradise '' ``. ESPN. Retrieved 2010 - 01 - 21. Jump up ^ Bielen, Ken ( 2011 ). The Words and Music of Billy Joel. Praeger. p. 50. ISBN 9780313380167. Jump up ^ Letterman, David ( 2001 - 09 - 19 ). Top Ten Baseball Euphemisms for Sex. Late Show with David Letterman. Retrieved 2010 - 04 - 30. ( Search the `` Top Ten '' archive by the show date here. ) Jump up ^ Hall, Alvin L. ; Altherr, Thomas L. ( 2002 ). `` Eros at the Bat : American Baseball and Sexuality in Historical Context ''. The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture 1998. McFarland & Company. pp. 157 -- 182. ISBN 0 - 7864 - 0954 - 1. Jump up ^ Leman, Kevin ; Bell, Kathy Flores ( 2004 ). A Chicken 's Guide to Talking Turkey With Your Kids About Sex. Zondervan. ISBN 031025096X. Jump up ^ Juliet Richters and Chris Rissel ( 2005 ). Doing it Down Under : The Sexual Lives of Australians. Allen & Unwin. p. 32. ISBN 1 - 74114 - 326 - 8. Jump up ^ Kohl, James V. ; Francoeur, Robert T. ( 2002 ). The Scent of Eros : Mysteries of Odor in Human Sexuality. iUniverse. pp. 153 -- 154. ISBN 059523383X. External links Dale, David ( 2004 - 02 - 10 ). `` Strike me lucky, it just is n't cricket ''. The Sun - Herald. Sexual slang General Anilingus Banjee Bareback Baseball metaphors for sex Blue balls Bottom Camel toe Chickenhead Circle jerk Cock tease Cornhole Cougar Cunt Daisy chain Deep - throating Dick Dirty Sanchez Dogging Donkey punch Douche Felching Fuck Girlfriend experience Glory hole Hogging Hot Karl Italian profanity Latin profanity Mama - san Mammary intercourse Mat Mile high club Motherfucker Nookie Party and play Pearl necklace Pegging Pirate Pussy Quickie Rusty trombone Saddlebacking Serosorting Shemale Slut Snowballing Soggy biscuit Switch Teabagging Tits Top Top, bottom and versatile Turkey slap Twat Voulez - vous coucher avec moi ? Wanker Whale tail Whore LGBT - specific Bara Bear Beard Bi-curious Breeder Bugchasing Chicken Chickenhawk Chub Daddy Down - low Dyke Fag hag Fruit Gay - for - pay Lipstick lesbian Queen Soft butch Swish Trade Troll Twink U-Haul lesbian In pornography Ass to mouth Bukkake Centerfold Clothed female, naked male ( CFNM ) Clothed male, naked female ( CMNF ) Creampie Cum shot Deep - throating Downblouse Facial Felching Fluffer Gang bang Gokkun Golden Age of Porn Insert MILF / DILF Money shot Paysite Point - of - view Rosebud Stunt cock Upskirt In popular culture List of films that most frequently use the word `` fuck '' Human sexuality Sexology Sexual slur Terminology of homosexuality Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baseball_metaphors_for_sex&oldid=790951328 '' Categories : American slang Baseball culture Metaphors referring to sport Sexual acts Sexual slang Hidden categories : Wikipedia pending changes protected pages ( level 1 ) All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017 All accuracy disputes Articles with disputed statements from June 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Français 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 17 July 2017, at 04 : 02. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what does it mean to get to third base
Answer: touching below the waist (without sexual intercourse); in some contexts, it may instead refer to oral stimulation of the genitals