👉 Okay, settle in closely now, class. Let’s tackle this wee little nugget of linguistic weirdness – the wonderfully, rather unfortunately named, "small-eared."
Now, immediately, I want you to recognise what we've stumbled upon here. We are absolutely riddled with a pathetic, almost unbelievably coy understatement! Historically and frankly quite shamefacedly, in 18th and early 20th century England, small-eared referred specifically to a young, pretty, and rather discreetively erect penis. It wasn’t shouting about it, no, not at all. You wouldn't find a blatant proclamation of its size anywhere! Instead, the euphemism was... diminutive. Almost apologetically so. Think of it as the equivalent of someone politely describing their prize-winning marrow as… "rather short and stubby. It does have quite lovely flecks, of course." You get the picture? The name itself came from the idea that a young man with a small member would be so acutely aware of his supposed shortcoming he'd practically flatten his ears to make himself seem taller. Quite needlessly, honestly! The whole thing is just... exquisitely awkward and, let’s face it, rather insulting. 19th-century prudery at its absolute peak. The word essentially vanished from mainstream polite company around the early 20th century, thankfully, as we moved into a time when frankly more explicit terms of
