Excerpted from "Sex in the Romance: A Review of RomanticEncounters of the Close Kind".

(copyright John L. Ferri 1994,jlferri@epix.net)

Breasts

After reviewing the list, the words and phrases that were usedto refer to breasts were further divided into four self-explanatorysubcategories : Adjectives for descriptions of the breastor breasts, Things to Do to or With Breasts, Synonymsfor other names for breasts, and Things that Breasts Can Do.

Adjectives

Breasts! I could write about them for hours, look at them fordays, and fondle them every chance that I get. Am I a "tit"man? Maybe so. I breast-fed for 3 years -- from birth to two,then most of the first year after I got married. There must bea natural attraction.

According to the authors, breasts are "heavy", "round",or "taut" for 7% of the time and "firm", "full",or "naked" for 5%. Below is the complete list of adjectivesused to describe breasts in the novels surveyed.

• aching
  
• achingly swollen
  
• ample
  
• bare
  
• bared
  
• beautifully formed
  
• brazenly exposed
  
• burgeoning
  
• burning
  
• creamy
  
• eager
  
• firm
  
• flushed
  
• free
  
• full
  
• glistening
  
• hard
  
• hardening
  
• heavy
  
• honey soft
  
• jiggling
  
• jutting
  
• lush
  
• magnificent
  
• naked
  
• not large
  
• pale
  
• pendant
  
• pert
  
• pink-tipped
  
• plump
  
• rosy
  
• round
  
• rounded
  
• sensitive
  
• shimmering
  
• small
  
• soft
  
• swollen
  
• still blossoming
  
• taut
  
• tender
  
• throbbing
  
• thrusting
  
• voluptuous.

Examples of usage would be "brazenly exposed breasts"or the ever popular "jiggling breasts." "Pendantbreasts" or possibly "throbbing breasts" are alwaystasteful choices. Compound usage could result in:

aching, flushed, magnificent breasts,

pale, glistening, voluptuous, throbbing breasts,

pendant, pink-tipped, heavy breasts,

beautifully formed, burgeoning, naked, creamy breasts.

There are limitless possibilities.

Absent from the list are entries such as artificial, blunt,bodacious, concave, enormous, extensive, extremely large, gigantic,humongous, non-existent, and pointy.

Some of the adjectives used to describe breasts can be convertedto a characteristic and still make sense by adding "ness"to the adjective. For example, full to fullness, and soft to softnesswork well while small to smallness, and taut to tautness doesn't."Fullness" accounted for half the usage of characteristicsfollowed by "softness", "roundness", and "lushness".

Things to Do to or With Breasts

With a frequency of 40%, the undisputed winner of what to do whenyou finally get near some magnificent, naked, sweetly curved moundsis to "cup" them. And because of the amazing coincidenceof "two hands, two breasts", both were cupped simultaneouslyvery frequently when cupping occurred at all. Number 2, at 9%,was to "suck" or "suckle" them. Although itmay seem unusual that "suckling" came in a distant secondplace, keep in mind that nipples were analyzed in their own category,although no one that I know considers the nipple separate fromits base. They were treated separately because of the unique andindividual attention given them in the love scenes.

I've always said, "What good are breasts if you can't doanything with them?" And here are a few suggestions fromthe authors of the romance novels.

• bared
  
• captured
  
• caressed
  
• caught one
  
• charted
  
• circled
  
• crushed
  
• cupped
  
• cupped ... squeezed it, massaged it
  
• cupped a breast in each hand
  
• cupped a full breast
  
• cupped her bare breasts
  
• exposed
  
• fondled
  
• found
  
• freed her breasts
  
• freeing her plump breasts
  
• gently kneaded and stroked her aching breasts
  
• gently squeezed
  
• hands hard on her breasts
  
• kissed
  
• kneaded
  
• lapped
  
• licked
  
• molded
  
• palmed
  
• plumping them
  
• pressed
  
• reshaped the underside of her breast
  
• rubbed
  
• scooped
  
• squeezed
  
• stroked
  
• sucked
  
• suckled
  
• taste
  
• taunted
  
• teased
  
• testing the weight of
  
• took her breast
  
• warmed.

Most of the above activities seem routine given the situationalthough two seem unusual. The "reshaping" is fine aslong as the female isn't aware that you're not satisfied withthe current configuration. It is possible that long confinementhas altered their shape, however, given their normal fluid nature,it is unlikely that a permanent deformity would occur. As forthe "testing the weight" option, it seems that a briefcareful visual inspection would hint at the quantity involved.And to make it easier still, only one breast need be examinedbecause, as they say, "If you've seen one, you've seen 'emboth."

Synonyms

Not everyone refers to those magnificent twin orbs as breasts.The following list contains synonyms for breasts found in thenovels surveyed.

• aching, hardening flesh
  
• aroused peaks
  
• burgeoning apices
  
• burgeoning swell
  
• creamy flesh
  
• pale mound of fragrant flesh
  
• pert mound
  
• plump mound
  
• proffered fruit
  
• ripe flesh
  
• silken swell
  
• soft, ripe swell
  
• surging peak
  
• sweetly curved mounds
  
• swelling flesh
  
• swollen bounty
  
• swollen sensitized flesh
  
• tantalizing offer
  
• warm tingling flesh
  
• warm, heavy weight.

Again, absent from the list and not likely to appear in romancenovels are entries such as bazongas, cupcakes, duelingbanjos, floaters, fog lights, hand warmers,hooters, tatas, twangers, warheads,and woffers. In comparison, "He cupped and gentlysqueezed her creamy flesh" does seem to elicit a much moresensuous message than, "He grabbed and honked her hooters."To test this hypothesis, I reenacted, multiple times, both scenarioswith the help of my assistant. In each case, I tried to reproducethe connotation of the instructions. The "creamy flesh"test brought kisses, the "hooters" reenactment broughtgiggles. Case closed.

Things that Breasts Can Do

Although arguably inanimate, breasts do seem to have a definiteagenda when involved in the love-play as described in the romancenovel. The most frequent event, with a frequency of 41%, is forthem to swell. They may "swell till painful", "swellcreamy and smooth", "swell and throb", but theyswell nonetheless. The activities of breasts are listed below:

• ached impatiently
  
• burst free
  
• dangled
  
• fell
  
• grazed
  
• heaved
  
• looked full and soft
  
• move against his chest
  
• rose
  
• skimmed tantalizingly against his chest
  
• spilled excitedly
  
• swell
  
• swell till they were painful
  
• swelled creamy and smooth
  
• swollen
  
• throbbing with need
  
• thrusting forward
  
• tighten
  
• tingle.