When a Tossed Salad Contains No Lettuce

Dear Reader,

This story has been in the news a lot, because the tossed salad conversation from Oprah was recently highlighted on the Howard Stern show. For those of you who don't live in the States, Oprah Winfrey, whose afternoon TV talk show deals with issues of interest to women, is one of the most admired people in the US. Howard Stern is a “shock jock”-- the host of a radio talk show featuring controversial and often offensive topics, especially as they relate to sex.

So why would these two have anything in common? Well, that has a lot to do with Janet Jackson. In reaction to Jackson's shocking exposure during the Super Bowl, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates radio and television broadcasts, started to fine radio shows for using bad language. Stern, not surprisingly, was hit with a huge fine and some stations dropped his show.

The radio host responded by pointing out that it isn't what he says that bothers people, but the way he says it. To make his point, he read some “bad” language from the Oprah show, including the expression tossed salad, a term about oral sex meaning to lick jam or syrup from the anus.

The Oprah show discussing tossed salad was aimed at parents concerned about their children’s secret sex lives. One issue discussed on the show was that many teenagers do not consider oral sex to have the same significance as intercourse. So that parents would understand what their children were talking about, one of her staff members researched and explained some teen slang related to oral sex.

Other words discussed on the program were outercourse (oral sex), rainbow parties (oral sex parties with color coded lipstick worn by the girls) and high five (to be HIV positive). However, Oprah rarely discusses such topics so explicitly. If you're looking to build your sexy vocabulary, you can learn a lot more by listening to Howard Stern.

Your pal,

A. C. Kemp