Revised as of
10 Nov 2023
Thinking of censors, this word confusion leapt to my attention, and reminded me of an erotic story I was reading.
It’s not that I object to someone “coming” and ejaculating come or cum, but I do object to the inconsistency of using come and cum in the same story with the same character to refer to the same substance or action. ‘Cause writing is all about the consistency, i.e., either s/he is coming or came, but never a mix of coming and cumming. The same holds true for the noun sense of come and cum in the same story.
Of course, if you needed to differentiate between the characters of your characters . . .
The Vulgar Difference is . . .
. . . “Polite” or Bawdy Sex
While the vulgar versions of come and cum refer to both the noun and verb forms, the sexual distinctions of your romance should be considered when you choose which to use. Come is more appropriate for the sweet or sexy romances while cum is better used in the erotic, erotica, and pornographic.
Likewise, you should consider if your work is nonfiction (come) or fiction (either come or cum).
On a side note, with all my reading, I’ve never run across anyone cumming or who had cummed. Anywhere. Either would be acceptable in dialogue for the backwards character. If that’s the way you roll.
Dialogue: Standard or Dialect?
Consider the nature of your character(s). Are they so uneducated that they would use cum in place of come . . . keeping in mind that the current dialogue cycle on using poor grammar and misspellings for such is not to use the misspellings?
So, c’mon and explore the differences of c’mon vs come vs cum with me.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| C’mon | Come | Cum |
|---|---|---|
Melissa Adret by Melissa A. N. (Model) is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. — C’mon, big boy. |
Coming to Play by in pastel is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flicker. |
Drooling Camel II by Tambako the Jaguar is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. — That drool looks suspiciously like cum. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Contraction for the verbal phrase come on
Third person present verb: N/A |
Noun; Preposition; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: come Third person present verb: comes |
Abbreviation 1; Noun 2; Preposition 3; Verb 4 Plural for the noun: cum Third person present verb: cums |
| Verbal Phrase: Used to encourage one to hurry up or follow in one’s path |
Noun: [Informal] Semen ejaculated at an orgasm Preposition: Verb, intransitive:
Occur
Take or occupy a specified position in space, order, or priority
Pass into a specified state, especially one of separation or disunion
Be sold, available, or found in a specified form Verb, transitive:
[Informal] To play the part of |
Abbreviation: Used where space is a concern 1 Cumulative Noun: [Physiology; vulgar] Orgasm [Physiology; vulgar] Semen ejaculated at an orgasm
Preposition: [Usually in combination] Combined with
Used between two nouns to designate an object with a dual nature or function Verb, transitive: [Physiology; vulgar] Have an orgasm
|
| Examples: | ||
| C’mon, it’ll be fun!
C’mon! what are you waiting for? Here, c’mon, I know a place we could go for dinner. C’mon in, the door’s open. Oh c’mon, you don’t really mean that! |
Noun: Come spattered the sheets. He rubbed the come into her belly. Preposition: Come the election on the 20th of May, we will have to decide. He’s going to be up there again come Sunday. Verb, intransitive: They came here as immigrants. He came rushing out. We walked along till we came to a stream. It was very late when she came back. My trunk hasn’t come yet. There were three women in slim dresses that came all the way to their shoes. Be careful. The path comes straight down. Someone was coming. She heard the train coming. The police came. Come and live with me and be my love. The electrician came to fix the stove. We have certainly come a long way since Aristotle. Do you want to come fishing tomorrow? He’s coming along nicely. She asked them how their garden was coming on. Come, come, child, no need to thank me. Twilight had not yet come. A chance like this doesn’t come along every day. He was waiting for a crash that never came. Suddenly, a voice came from the kitchen. It came as a great shock. “No,” came the quick reply. As an actor your style and personality must come through. He’d always come across as a decent guy. The basic idea came to me while reading an article. That’s when a passage from a novel came back to Adam. Prisons come far down the list of priorities. I make sure my kids come first. She came second among sixty contestants. His shirt had come undone. You will come to no harm. Uniforms will be required for staff who come into contact with the public. He had come to realize she was no puppet. The cars come with a variety of extra. They come in three sizes and six colors. “I’m coming!” she cried. I’m gonna come inside you. Verb, transitive: She was but a child coming eight years of age. Come the stern parent and punish your child. “To come the grand inquisitor. To me!” she exclaimed. |
Abbreviation: Cum. effect on the east shore. Cum. drug use is addictive. Noun: Cum dripped everywhere. Preposition: The house had a kitchen-cum-dining room with an eight-burner stove. She was a waitress-cum-singer on the verge of success. He graduated summa cum laude. Lenny comes from Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Verb: “I did tell Hannah to let you know the minute I cum in, miss” (Harker). “Ses she, “Peter, cum in and see what purty chillun you got” (Various). Cum inside me. Now. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Noun: come-on | Adjective: coming Noun: pre-come Verb: pre-come |
Noun: pre-cum Verb: pre-cum |
| Phrasal Verb | ||
| come about come across come after come along come around come at come away come back come before come between come by come down come down on come down to come down with come for come forward come from come in come in for come into come of come off come on come on to come out come out in come out with come over come round come through come to come to oneself come under come up come up against come up with come upon |
||
| History of the Word: | ||
| It was first recorded in 1930–35. | Old English cuman is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch komen and the German kommen. |
|
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for C’mon vs Come vs Cum
Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.
Apple Dictionary.com
Crocker, Lizzie. “Monster Porn Is the Latest Wrinkle in Self-Published Smut.” The Daily Beast. 13 Jan 2014. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/monster-porn-is-the-latest-wrinkle-in-self-published-smut>.
Dictionary.com: cum
Harker, L. Allen. Jan and Her Job. 2011. <https://amzn.to/3h2jdlO>. Ebook.
Stewart, Cal. Uncle Josh’s Punkin Centre Stories. DigiCat, 2022. <https://amzn.to/3WuHqS5>. Ebook.
Various. The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun. 2012. <https://amzn.to/3zJZ7DE>. Ebook.
Waldman, Katy. “When Should You Use Come vs. Cum? It Depends What Kind of Sex You’re Describing. Lexicon Valley. Slate.com. July 17, 2015. Web. August 4, 2018. <http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/17/come_or_cum_we_ask_the_hard_questions_about_when_to_use_which_sexy_term.html>
“Likewise, one comes and the resulting emission, come, is qualitatively different from what you get when you cum, which is cum.”
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Quy Hall, Stow cum Quy, Cambridgeshire, England, by John Sutton, via Geograph, was resized and had the level adjusted and Longford AC – March 2014 – 10KM and 5KM Road Races by Peter Mooney, via Flickr, is using only the jogger and not the background. Both are under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
