I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.

Reverse-ECCHIcation: 'Cum' | English Is Not So Easy 11

I love ZONE-tan and ZONE-SAMA and consider them to be the standard for all the art I make. The ECCHIcation series is a very exciting project for me and at the same time I was surprised at the depth of their knowledge of the Japanese language. I am sure that they have the ability to come to Japan and live there without any difficulty.

However, there are some words they deal with that I personally would rather know about English words, and I would like to explain one of those English words, "cum," this time.

It's time for our "COMING ATTRACTIONS". If you're wondering why we're not spelling the "coming" in "coming attractions" with a "u", we're better than that.

(from "ZTV News Episode 1 (April 2012)")

Once, when I was studying English for a university entrance exam, I memorized the following phrase:

"Tom, dinner is ready!" "OK, mom. I'm coming."

We learned that the reason why "I'm coming" is used here instead of "I'm going" is that English focuses on the movement of the person toward the topic: "dinner". This may sound strange, but In Japan, most people choose to say "I'm going" because they focus only on the speaker's present location (I personally believe that this difference in thinking may provide a clue to the question that will come up later, but I will leave that out of this discussion).

Incidentally, "come" used in "I'm coming" is also a well-known verb that expresses orgasm. If this is the case, then I think that native speakers take care not to use the expression "I'm coming" in their daily conversation. This is because there are many examples in my own language where the popularity of euphemisms in pornography has, in turn, made it difficult to use them in everyday conversation (bukkake, gokkun, sempai, onii-chan, danna-sama...). But here is where a serious question arises: In this case, if an English learner like me uses the phrase "I'm coming.", will it give other native speakers a sexual image of me? Will a situation arise where you smile wryly and I ask you, "Why? Did I make a mistake?" and you answer "No, but... umm..."? There is a California-born English teacher in Japan, David A Thayne, who specializes in teaching these taboos that only native English speakers know, but there are not many saviors like him in Japan!

Let's get back on track. The main theme of this article is the English word "cum". Where did you learn this word first?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cum#English

Etymology 1: Learned borrowing from Latin cum (“with”). (e.g. This is my bedroom-cum-study!)

Etymology 2: Variant of come, attested (in the basic sense "come, move from further to nearer, arrive") since Old English. In the current sense and spelling from 1970s.

I see. "Cum" is a word with a long history, having its origins in Latin and Old English. But, "in the current sense"??

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=Cum

cum

verb ("to ejaculate") and noun ("semen"), by 1973, apparently a variant of come in the sexual sense that originated in pornographic writing, perhaps first in the noun. This "experience sexual orgasm" slang meaning of come (perhaps originally come off) is attested by 1650, in "Walking In A Meadowe Greene," in a folio of "loose songs" collected by Bishop Percy.

What English learners like me should be aware of here is that "I'm coming" is an expression used in daily conversation, but "I'm cumming" is a slang used only in pornography. In other words, if I misspelled "come" as "cum," I would be in big trouble.

My next concern is how to distinguish between "I'm coming" and "I'm cumming" when I draw ero manga. I know your honest opinion is that "it doesn't matter which phrase you use," but I'm curious to know the subtle differences in meaning between the two.

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/49051/i-am-cumming-or-i-am-coming

There was an interesting discussion on this site:

• People can say "I'm coming/cumming" seriously, with humor, with passion, as a joke, or in all kinds of ways, just as with most phrases or words.
• To enumerate how many times last night, I have only heard or read expressions like "I came x times last night" and "How many times did you come/cum last night?" It seems to me that "cummed" is less often used.
• Maybe "cum" is a kind of "eye dialect".
• Maybe "cum" is related to the French word "écume (foam)".

What was particularly interesting to me was that "cum" is also a verb, even though it is a kind of "vulgar slang," so it has past tense, present progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. For example, however, is "He cums three times every night." or "He had cummed before I did." a natural expression for a native English speaker? I would like to hear your opinion.

Conclusion

I learned that "come" began to mean orgasm in the mid-17th century, and that the word "cum" is a vulgar slang that appeared in the 70s. Some native English speakers consider "cum" to be an eye dialect for "come". The word "cum" was first spelled jokingly in pornography and became a buzzword, meaning male orgasm and semen, but now "cum" has lost its jokey nuance and has become a word used in serious situations as well.

Once again, what I am concerned about is the feelings that native English speakers have when they hear these words. For example, my native language has many "old-fashioned" words from the 70's that the younger generation would make fun of me if I used them on the street. So is "cum" an "old-fashioned" word for modern native English speakers as well? Or is "cum" already a common and widespread word, and is it considered a general verb rather than a coined word? I am interested in your opinions.

[For Japanese language learners]

As you might know, in English, orgasm is expressed as "come/cum," but in Japan, orgasm is expressed as "イく (to go / to die)". The Japanese word "イく" is also "vulgar slang" and has no orthography, but in most cases it is written in katakana イ and hiragana く to distinguish it from "行く (to go)" or "逝く (to die)". Most examples these days use "イク" as a kind of onomatopoeia, but I prefer the verb-like notation "イく (cum) /イった (cummed) /イかせる (make someone cum)" for my personal preference. As you can see, there is no correct spelling.

Also, please keep in mind that "cum" is used mainly by men, but "イく" is used mainly by women. Ejaculation is commonly described as "出す (to emit)", which is a shortened form of "精液を出す (emit semen)".