Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
All Sexed Up
English answer:
exagerated but as a double meaning here
Added to glossary by
Stephanie Ezrol
Jul 7, 2010 09:56
14 yrs ago
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English term
Devoting myself to translation
Native in: Chinese 
Works in: Chinese to English, English to Chinese, Japanese to Chinese, and 2 more.
All Sexed Up
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Why are we all familiar with the term “nympho” and not “satyro”? Is it because a woman who is unable to control her sexual desires is more exciting or more newsworthy than a man with the same problem? More likely, it’s because a willingness to engage in constant sexual activity is considered normal when it comes to men. In fact, historically, the female problem of nymphomania has been taken much more seriously than the male counterpart. Treatments have included “cold baths, bromide sedatives, cauterization and, yes, clitoridectomy” (Peter Green, “All Sexed Up”, Los Angeles Times). (Painting: Nymphs and Satyr, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Wikipedia.)
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Jul 12, 2010 11:27: Stephanie Ezrol Created KOG entry
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Stephanie Ezrol
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French to English, English to English
Native in: English
Works in: English, French to English, French Middle (ca.1400-1600) to English
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exagerated but as a double meaning here
Peter Green's article title "All Sexed Up" is a review of a year 2000 book NYMPHOMANIA A History By Carol Groneman. The use of "All Sexed Up," as the title to the book review is immediately funny to the ear of an English speaker, but it is also serious because the author, Groneman, is saying that a male dominated culture has sexed up (exagerated) intense interest in sexual relations by a woman (calling her a nympho) but not in a man (not calling him a satyro).
The most famous recent case of using the term "all sexed up," was when Tony Blair then the UK Prime Minister was accusing of sexing up the evidence of Iraq having Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Peter Green, the author of the book review, is the former fiction critic of the London Daily Telegraph so it is quite likely that he had this famous use of the term in his mind.
The nation of Iraq was punished for a problem that they did not have because the evidence was exagerated (all sexed up.) Groneman's book seems to say that women have been punished for a problem that when it exists in men is not considered in problem, and that the punishment of women has been way out of line and at times barbaric.
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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2010-07-08 17:37:05 GMT)
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Sexed up, in the meaning of sex or sexually attractive, sexually obsessed or seductive was used by Tom Wolfe in this interesting interview from Time Magazine on Feb 13, 1989:
Interview: Master Of His Universe: TOM WOLFE
Q. Decades are artificial measures, but that's what we use, and you have a flair for defining them. You called the '60s "the whole crazed, obscene, & uproarious, Mammon-faced, drug-soaked, Mau Mau, lust-oozing '60s." The '70s were "the Me decade," "the sexed-up, doped-up, hedonistic heaven of the boom boom '70s." As we close out the '80s, how do you define the decade?
A. It is the decade of money fever. It's almost impossible for people to be free of the burning itch for money. It's a decade not likely to produce heroic figures.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956958,00.h...
The most famous recent case of using the term "all sexed up," was when Tony Blair then the UK Prime Minister was accusing of sexing up the evidence of Iraq having Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Peter Green, the author of the book review, is the former fiction critic of the London Daily Telegraph so it is quite likely that he had this famous use of the term in his mind.
The nation of Iraq was punished for a problem that they did not have because the evidence was exagerated (all sexed up.) Groneman's book seems to say that women have been punished for a problem that when it exists in men is not considered in problem, and that the punishment of women has been way out of line and at times barbaric.
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Note added at 1 day7 hrs (2010-07-08 17:37:05 GMT)
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Sexed up, in the meaning of sex or sexually attractive, sexually obsessed or seductive was used by Tom Wolfe in this interesting interview from Time Magazine on Feb 13, 1989:
Interview: Master Of His Universe: TOM WOLFE
Q. Decades are artificial measures, but that's what we use, and you have a flair for defining them. You called the '60s "the whole crazed, obscene, & uproarious, Mammon-faced, drug-soaked, Mau Mau, lust-oozing '60s." The '70s were "the Me decade," "the sexed-up, doped-up, hedonistic heaven of the boom boom '70s." As we close out the '80s, how do you define the decade?
A. It is the decade of money fever. It's almost impossible for people to be free of the burning itch for money. It's a decade not likely to produce heroic figures.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956958,00.h...
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
BdiL
: exaggerated but has a double meaning here (?), probably. Yes. A culturally-oriented case of make-up. Maurizio
1 day 4 hrs
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Thanks.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "thank you!"
+1
12 mins
to make something more (sexually) attractive
This appears to be the title of a newspaper article. The term "sexed up" originally means to make something/ somebody/oneself more sexually exciting/ attractive.
Nowadays the term is used in all sorts of situations. For example, the government may be accused of trying to "sex up" a certain policy by making it appear more appealing than it really is.
Due to the nature of the subject discussed in your text, it seems that the writer of the article is using it in its original, more literal sense.
So "all sexed up" = "all set up to make oneself/ someone/ something more sexually attractive"
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Note added at 15 mins (2010-07-07 10:12:12 GMT)
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And here a couple of definitions:
Definitions of "sex up" on the Web:
•eroticize: give erotic character to or make more interesting; "eroticize the ads"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
•Sexed up refers to making something more sexually appealing. Since 2003 it has been used in the sense of making something more attractive than it really is by selective presentation; a modern update to the phrase "hyped up". Variants include "sex it up". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_up
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Note added at 41 mins (2010-07-07 10:38:29 GMT)
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Like Roland said in the discussion entry he just added, the term is now more commonly used in non-sexual contexts, so that the author here seems to actually be humorously using this "non-sexual" term in a title of an article about a sexual topic.
Nowadays the term is used in all sorts of situations. For example, the government may be accused of trying to "sex up" a certain policy by making it appear more appealing than it really is.
Due to the nature of the subject discussed in your text, it seems that the writer of the article is using it in its original, more literal sense.
So "all sexed up" = "all set up to make oneself/ someone/ something more sexually attractive"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 mins (2010-07-07 10:12:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
And here a couple of definitions:
Definitions of "sex up" on the Web:
•eroticize: give erotic character to or make more interesting; "eroticize the ads"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
•Sexed up refers to making something more sexually appealing. Since 2003 it has been used in the sense of making something more attractive than it really is by selective presentation; a modern update to the phrase "hyped up". Variants include "sex it up". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_up
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Note added at 41 mins (2010-07-07 10:38:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Like Roland said in the discussion entry he just added, the term is now more commonly used in non-sexual contexts, so that the author here seems to actually be humorously using this "non-sexual" term in a title of an article about a sexual topic.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Lynda Bogdan (X)
6 hrs
|
Discussion
This expression is so widely used in contemporary EN that even non-EN natives like me are completely conversant with it, particularly in its huge variety of usages in the figurative - from "sexing up health reform actions" to "sexing up military presence".
Actually I think that the usage in non-erotic context is the normal one and the fun or almost pun of this title is in applying the term, which means essentially "enhancing the power of something", to a sexual matter as such.