Jerking Off: What It Means & Other Fun Ways To Say It

Jerking off is a clever euphemism to describe masturbation, typically referring to penile self-pleasure — an activity that’s incredibly common.

Jerking off is also known as:

• Jerking it
• Beating off
• Jacking off
• Jacking it
• A date with Jill (the fingers and grooves between them spelling the name)
• Playing with yourself
• Rolling dice
• Taking care of yourself
• Beating your meat
• Stoking it
• Spanking it
• A spank-sesh
• Spanking the monkey
• Polishing the bishop
• Polishing your knob
• Polishing your pole
• Cranking one out
• Working one out
• Rubbing one out
• Tugging one out
• Cranking one out
• Having a wank
• Whacking off/it (bonus points for emphasizing the “h”)
• Releasing the Kraken
• Self-gratification
• A quiet night in
• Releasing the pressure valve
• Exorcising the demons
• Slaying the beast
• Churning butter
• Flying solo
• Han-d Solo
• Onanism
• Onan the Barbarian
• Giving yourself a treat
• Whipping up a batch of man-batter
• Table for one
• The loneliest handshake
• Making Jesus cry
• Ladling out some doom-sauce
• Tug-of-war with the Cyclops
• Alone time
• Me time
• Happy time
• Clearing the pipes
• Squeezing the stress-ball
• Playing with your Palm Pilot (remember those?)
• Slinging yogurt
• The ol’ knuckle shuffle
• My dinner with Hand-dre

These are only a — ahem — handful of ways to refer to masturbating.

Most terms and synonyms are gender-neutral, with vaginal masturbation having a few of its own special terms such as “double-clicking your mouse” or “hopping on the ones-and-twos.”

Almost all of the above terms have worked their way into popular language as a form of cultural osmosis.

In most cases, no one is really sure who coined what phrase.

The only one with verifiable documentation is “onanism”, which is a biblical reference to the story of Onan.

Onan didn’t masturbate; rather, he withdrew himself before climaxing, and his seed landed on the ground.

The unifying idea behind almost all of the slang terms for masturbating is using evocative language.

Using words like “jerking” or “whacking” is not literal but expresses the idea of the physical act of masturbating.

Other euphemisms may not be as direct, but they generally convey the idea well enough to know what is being discussed, especially since male masturbation is common.

Bottom Line:

There are endless ways to describe male masturbation, with new phrases being created by innovative folks every day.

Some may be subtler than others, but there is no mistaking their meaning.

The fun of euphemistic language is bringing creativity and humor to taboo topics.

Like the act of jerking off itself, it should be fun and put a smile on your face.