this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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[–] CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 60 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Erotic is what I like, vulgar is what everyone else likes.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So that would make Starbucks coffee vulgar. Yeah...that tracks.

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

You know what else is vulgar?

Tap for spoiler

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 40 points 2 months ago (2 children)

OK, so, no word of a lie, I decided to enumerate an alphabetical word list of British English. "erotic" is at 30872, and "vulgar" is at 99680. The average of these is 65276, which is where you'd draw a line exactly between them. What word is at that entry? "package's".

So by sheer mathematics, you're crossing the line if you can see some guy's package. QED.

[–] Deestan@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Playing by those rules, I reject the arithmetic mean and draw the line between them on the word "line".

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Package in the possessive form? What's the definition?

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 5 points 2 months ago

No definition. It's purely a word list, nothing more. Specifically, I used /usr/share/dict/words, which on my machine ultimately links to /usr/share/dict/british-english.

[–] Krusty@quokk.au 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Erotic is the art of leaving doors slightly ajar. Enough to make the mind lean in and do its own private vulgarities. A fog, darkness, mystery, and tantalizing reward. It’s a half-sentence that somehow feels like a full romance story, written in ink that smudges on purpose so you have to interpret it.

Vulgar is when the same door gets kicked off its hinges and someone starts pointing at everything inside with a flashlight and commentary track. Nothing is hidden, nothing is paced, nothing is spared from narration. Media slaps face.

[–] EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world -2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I can tell that this was written by a woman cause you nailed it LOL

[–] Krusty@quokk.au 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

well ... color me the fuck surprised.

Most of us are clueless as fuck when it comes to this kinda stuff. Kudos to you brudda.

[–] DioramaOfShit@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I can tell youre a man krusty

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Generally speaking, I think it has to do with intent:

Erotic = intended to arouse / is sexual in nature.

Vulgar = intended to offend / is characterized by a lack of social acceptability.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Yeah, and the same themes can go either way. An edge lord trying to push boundaries might write acts that are downright tame for sadomasochistic erotica.

And I think tone is vital here. I've read some stuff that could have been rewritten as horror, but the tone is sensuous.

Lines do get blurred though, pulp erotica is a classic example. My knowledge of it is largely in lesbian pulp, but at the time you couldn't get away with writing a happy love story between two women, especially not an erotic one. You could however write a somewhat vulgar story about a good girl being seduced by a dangerous woman so long as the ending was unhappy for the women.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 14 points 2 months ago

my dick being hard or soft.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 months ago

Erotic = It turns me on.

Vulgar = it offends me.

Also both of those are moving targets.

[–] AlmightyDoorman@kbin.earth 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Erotic is light sensual play with a feather.
Vulgar/perverted would be if the chicken is still attached

For demonstration of this theory, see Pink Flamingos

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 11 points 2 months ago

I reject the premise of vulgarity

[–] kbal@fedia.io 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Where do you draw the line between green and salty? There isn't a line between them, they're two different dimensions.

[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's a fancy word for that: orthogonal. In geometry it also means at a right angle to each other, which makes sense for dimensions in a coordinate system.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Where do you draw the line between orthogonal and adjacent?

[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 5 points 2 months ago

It's more of a spectrum

[–] ReCursing@feddit.uk 9 points 2 months ago

I dunno, but "Erotic is where you use a feather, kinky is using the whole chicken, perverse is serving it to your mother in law for Sunday lunch the next day"

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Erotic is sophisticated, thoughtful, sexy. Vulgar is trying to be erotic and failing because it's lazy, derivative, and misses the nuance.

[–] idealotus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Where does "tacky" fall in this? I can't see tacky and erotic but can see tacky and vulgar.

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 7 points 2 months ago

I don't... or at least I try not to.

"Sex-positivity" means acknowledging and accepting the wide variety of tastes and consensual adult activities that make up human sexuality. And to do that, you have to understand that your own preferences are subjective and arbitrary, and that just because you aren't into something doesn't make it gross, obscene, vulgar or worthy of judgement.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it.

[–] HairyOldCoot@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago

It's not so much a line as transition zone.

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 5 points 2 months ago

Erotic is when you search for the details, vulgar is when they are pushed into your face.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 4 points 2 months ago

If it turns me on or disgusts me.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago

Well, if it's in Latin it can be erotic, but never vulgar.

[–] Lexam@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

There's a line, a very moist line that you don't want to cross you naughty girl/boy/puppy.

[–] akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago

Erotic: brownie\
Vulgar: pot brownie

[–] SarahFromOz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

No vomit or shitting or anything like that.

[–] SPRUNTnsfw@fedinsfw.app 2 points 2 months ago

Erotic is when everyone involved in the scene is in full consent of all the actions happening. Vulgar is the moment one person decides that they are no longer comfortable with the actions happening yet the scene continues anyway.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Erotic is when the fellas form an orderly line and wait their turn. Vulgar is when she has a "Now Serving: #42" screen above the bed.

[–] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Erotic is a tasteful, slow motion pan across long, smooth legs, leading up to a sexy ass.

Vulgar is the ass then turning towards the camera and goatse-ing everyone, before pumping out a thick runnel of shit for over a minute, before someone comes in with a small model toy car, and drops it into the distended anus, so it can drive down into the large intestine. And then labelling the video 'Herbie Goes Spelunking!'

[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 2 points 2 months ago

Why exactly would anyone want to draw this line? "Erotic" and "vulgar" are both bad looks at a funeral, you know?

[–] shirasho@feddit.online 2 points 2 months ago

Erotic is when everyone involved is into it. It turns vulgar when one person isnt.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 0 points 2 months ago

Erotic: sexually arousing or intended for such purpose.

I don't think vulgarity is a well defined or even useful concept. It's just another remnant of Puritanism.