Beast with two backs

Making the beast with two backs is a euphemistic metaphor for two persons engaged in sexual intercourse. It refers to the situation in which a couple – in the missionary position or standing – cling to each other as if a single creature, with their backs to the outside.

In English, the expression dates back to at least William Shakespeare's Othello (Act 1, Scene 1, ll. 126-127):[1]

I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

The equivalent phrase in French: la bete à deux dos, appears in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, circa 1532. This was translated into English by Thomas Urquhart and published posthumously around 1693:

In the vigour of his age he married Gargamelle, daughter to the King of the Parpaillons, a jolly pug, and well-mouthed wench. These two did oftentimes do the two-backed beast together, joyfully rubbing and frotting their bacon 'gainst one another.

See also

• The Beast with Two Backs, a studio album by the goth rock band Inkubus Sukkubus.
• A Beast With Two Backs, a British television play first broadcast in 1968
• Back with Two Beasts, an album by the Australian band The Church (band)
• Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

External links

• The dictionary definition of beast with two backs at Wiktionary
• Quotations related to Beast with two backs at Wikiquote
• Works related to Beast with two backs at Wikisource