Here’s 10 fascinating facts you never knew about the male fun sack.
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#1
1. Balls to the wall
The testicles make 200 million sperm every day.
2. Size matters
Balls can grow up to twice the size during sex.
#2
3. Meat and two veg
The word avocado derives from the Aztec word for testicle.
4. How's it hangin'?
For most men, their left testicle hangs lower than the right.
Being unsymmetrical means they take up less space.
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#3
5. Heavy
The largest scrotum on record belonged to 49-year-old Wesley Warren, who died from a heart attack last year.
6. Ball ache
In the Middle Ages, men who wanted sons would sometimes have their left testicle chopped off because they thought the right testicle made male sperm, and the left made female.
#4
7. Hand on part
Testicle derives from the Latin word testis, meaning ‘witness'.
In pre-biblical times men sometimes placed their hand on another man's testicles when swearing an oath, because the testicles gave witness to a man's virility.
8. Pitch perfect
In 16th century Europe, women weren't allowed to sing in Roman Catholic church choirs so of course the logical thing to do instead was cut off boys' balls before their voices broke.
These boys, called castrati, were appreciated by classical composers such as Mozart and some became major celebrities.
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#5
9. Ballin'
There are various theories on why men have external testicles the most widely-believed being to do with the fact a cooler temperature improves sperm production.
But for many other mammals, including elephants, aardvarks and anteaters, their balls are up inside their bodies, by their kidneys.
10. Bash the bishop
The Vatican museum contains a ‘sedia stercoraria' or ‘dung chair' a chair with a hole in it.
It is thought to have been used so officials could check the sex of the new Pope and make sure he had both balls.
