People are hearing this word, choad (also spelled chode), everywhere they turn, so I'm making it today's word of the day. It is not, however, for the faint of heart, soft of stomach, or delicate of sensibilities. So, if you haven't finished your morning coffee yet, turn back now. This is your official warning. The material that follows is disgusting and crude.

I was watching Beavis and Butthead a few years ago and Butthead referred to Beavis as a chode. Then, not too long ago, I witnessed Stan refer to himself as a chode on South Park, and Kyle agreed that he was a chode. I didn't think very much about it the first time I heard it, but years apart on two different television networks! What does it mean, and where did it come from?

What is a choad? Well, usually it is just a derogatory name that people call each other. But of course, like other colorful epithets, choad does have a referential meaning. In fact, it has several (lucky us).

The most common meaning for choad is 'penis'. The origin of the word is obscure, though it may be related to the slang word choan for 'sex'. There has also been some speculation that the word comes from the Indian word for 'f*ck'. However, there are no citations to confirm this connection. Some people claim that choad refers to a certain kind of penis: short and stubby, uncircumcised, unusually wide, etc. These seem to be later variants of the more general meaning.

Choad made a big splash with this 'penis' meaning during the 1960s in some underground comics: "What a find…a giant choad!" (Zap Comics, unp. no. 3, 1968). This use faded off the radar in the late 1970s. Apparently, we can all thank the editorial gurus from the Usenet group alt.tasteless for its latest ubiquitous appearance.

The word has at least two other meanings that date from the 1980s. Choad is a name for the fecal matter on an animal's behind (also called a dingleberry). This is probably the meaning used by Bevis and Butthead who made reference to "Choad encounters of the turd kind" (1993). The last common variant of choad refers to the perineum (the part of the body between the genitalia and the anus).

Choad is also commonly found in the compound choadsmoker. Someone who is a choadsmoker is a 'loser'. Something that is a choadsmoker is 'boring' or 'lame'. These meanings also apply to the word choad, which is usually non-referential. That means the guy you heard calling you a choad on the subway was no more calling you a 'penis' than if he had called you a prick. Some people even call themselves choads with some pride. There is a Website called choad central where you can ask to be officially named a choad.

It's also interesting to note that there is a nasty computer virus out there named bat.chode that uses .bat files to spread itself through the Internet.

Wishing you had taken your morning coffee back to the living room in time to see Diane Sawyer talk about slimming down for your summer vacation? Well, look at it this way: if you happen to bump in to Bevis, Butthead, Kyle, Stan, or others of their ilk, at least now you have something you can call them in a language they'll understand.

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Synonym for ‘penis’ used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens thereof. They say: “We think maybe it's from Middle English but we're all too damned lazy to check the OED.” [I'm not. It isn't.] This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have confirmed that ‘choad’ is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent to ‘f u c k’; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the British Raj.

From Urban Dictionary:

Usually penis, penis wider than it is long, or the area between the penis and anus. Taken from colloquial Spanish.

A penis, usually wider than long. (actually this is basically not possible so this is a better definition: It is a slang for a penis that is usually thick in appearance and short in length.)

The perineal area between the scrotum and anus. Also called grundle, gooch, taint, or durf.

Pubic hair. This definition seems to originate from New Jersey.

Anything short and fat, like a fat kid or a Prius.

A chunky load.

A creep.

An awful guy named Chad.

A hot sticky load of ball sauce blasted on to some chick's forehead.