Known primarily as the prime plot of real estate between Buttville and Scrotum City, the grundle is a space that has long arrested the imagination (and nose) of the American teenager. It is an essentially liminal space, a wizened haven between the body’s two most essential evacuation zones. Often the subject of locker room banter, the grundle has a long and storied history. There were grundles present for the moon landing. There were grundles on hand at the Diet of Worms. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his troops, thousands of grundles crossed with them.
The origins of the word are largely unknown. Could it be that its ultimate source is Grendel, the monster whom Beowulf slays in the eponymous Anglo-Saxon epic? An “infamous stalker in the marshes” (maére mearcstapa), Grendel terrifies and intimidates all who cross his path. Alternatively, some scholars speculate that grundle may be related to grundel, an 18th century term for small, bottom dwelling fishes such as the gudgeon and the loach. Such an etymology would at least account for the awful, awful stench that often emanates from the grundle after vigorous exercise. The most widely accepted theory, however, posits a connection to the Middle High German grundelinc, used to describe men “of base breeding sentiments.” The relationship requires no further explanation.
It is perhaps worthy of note that grundle is a gendered term; it refers specifically to the male iteration of what is known in the medical community as the perineum. Indeed, no woman has ever had occasion to refer to this region of her body in polite conversation. Yet the word enjoys, and will likely continue to enjoy, a considerable following. As South African American musician Dave Matthews once explained in a 2001 hit single:
The space between what’s wrong and right
is where you’ll find me hiding, waiting for you.
Long live the holy grundle!
(History of a word)
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