Our country has a very different culture, especially with the names it uses for some actions. The words or phrases we use to express something can be very strange. Moreover, besides this strangeness, we may not know where they came from or what they are used for. One of these oddities is the phrase “31”, which is used when men masturbate. So how did we start calling masturbation jerking off? Today, we will get to know this idiom, which dates back to the Ottoman period.
Even though we don’t know the story, we use the phrase “shooting 31”, which was used as a coded message for masturbation, which was not widely accepted during the Ottoman Empire, for the same purpose.
Where does the idiom “draw 31” come from?
In the Ottoman period, people used the phrase “withdrawal” to express their masturbation. Of course, such an action was not widely accepted at that time. That’s why you couldn’t say things like “I’m holding hands” in public. While the people of that period were thinking about how to use it without realizing it, they thought of “abjad calculation”. (Abjad calculation, encryption made with numbers corresponding to letters, similar examples of which are also found in different cultures.)
People who decided to make abjad calculations decided to collect the numerical equivalent of the “hand” part of the phrase “to draw a hand”. As a result of adding 1, the numerical equivalent of “Elif” used for the letter “E”, and the number 30, which is the numerical equivalent of “Lam” used for the letter “L”, they reached the number 31. The phrase “drawing 31” started to be used in this way.
This number, which started as a coded message at first and remained so for many years, has remained as an expression that everyone knows for what purpose it is used, but does not know where it came from.
Another name for masturbation in the Ottoman Empire: Istinna
Another name for masturbation in the Ottoman Empire was “istimnâ”. This word was considered non-slang. In other words, while the non-slang form is istimna, the slang form was used as “to pull one’s hand”, that is to say “31”. Of course, even if you use the word istimna, it would not be wise to say this action publicly.
Abced account was used frequently in the Ottoman Empire.
In the time of the Ottoman Empire, swearing at people and speaking slang was more difficult than today’s conditions due to strict rules. For this reason, the abjad calculations of many swear words and slang words were removed. People were collecting the numerical equivalents of the words and expressing what they wanted to say in a cryptic way.
Today we learned where the expression “drawing 31” comes from. There are many words / phrases that we use in our lives in this way, but whose meaning we do not know exactly. So how did you find this content? Do not forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section.
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