there’s no mistaking it—we’ve got a glory hole on our hands

October 28, 2021 9:46 AM

Those currently enthralled with Netflix’s hit competitive glass blowing show Blown Away may be justifiably curious about the presence on the program of “glory holes.” For most of the culture, this terms refers very specifically to a public, quasi-anonymous sex act involving gay men, bathroom stalls, and a handily placed hole. For glass blowers, the glory hole is a high-powered furnace burning at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit—hardly suitable for sex acts of any kind. So why do they call it that? Which glory hole came first? Which group owns the term “glory hole”? Would a glory hole by any other name smell as sweet? How did we get to me asking these questions? Let’s start at the beginning.
posted by sciatrix (37 comments total)

I was a hobbyist glassblower in college and I learned very quickly that you can learn a lot about a new glassblower by how they react to that term. I like to think I put on a pretty good poker face. But as the article notes, there's tons of other sexual-sounding slang in glassblowing. Where else can you walk into a literal classroom or workplace and hear "blow! jack! blow! jack! blow! That's right, now paddle that bottom"? It's very charming and you get used to it fast because if you focus too much on sniggering childishly things around you start catching fire
posted by potrzebie at 10:03 AM on October 28, 2021 [35 favorites]

Gold mining also has a glory hole.

Some may giggle but it's a useful phrase.
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:05 AM on October 28, 2021 [4 favorites]

Glass has only been around for hundreds of years. Getting blown, by any name in any physical location, has been around since, well, forever. Ever since the caveman cut a hole in his woolly mammoth hide, it had to have a name.
posted by AugustWest at 10:05 AM on October 28, 2021

the full article includes extensive discussion of the documented history of both glassblowing- and other-types-of-blowing glory holes, both of which predate the term "glory hole" itself!
posted by sciatrix at 10:09 AM on October 28, 2021 [5 favorites]

I gotta admit, I was expecting this to be a Wordshore FPP.
posted by biogeo at 10:10 AM on October 28, 2021 [11 favorites]

For many years there was a homeless shelter in Alaska called The Glory Hole. Borrowed from gold mining mentioned above. They changed the name to The Glory Hall a few years ago.
posted by kerf at 10:12 AM on October 28, 2021 [7 favorites]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of “glory hole” in English comes in 1825, when it was described as “a receptacle (as a drawer, room, etc,) in which things are heaped together without any attempt at order or tidiness.”

Huh, I never realized that I live in a glory hole.
posted by biogeo at 10:20 AM on October 28, 2021 [21 favorites]

Don't forget about this natural wonder:

California's 'glory hole' activated after weeks of heavy rain
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:38 AM on October 28, 2021 [6 favorites]

there's tons of other sexual-sounding slang in glass blowing

And from glass blowing adjacent pottery manufacturing, there's the saggar maker's bottom knocker.

In some early nuclear reactors made for research, an access port you could lower things you wanted to expose to radiation into the reactor through was also called a 'glory hole'. I hadn’t realized where that came from till this post.
posted by jamjam at 10:42 AM on October 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

“a receptacle (as a drawer, room, etc,) in which things are heaped together without any attempt at order or tidiness.”

Y'all come to my new gay club, The Junk Drawer.
posted by mittens at 11:00 AM on October 28, 2021 [40 favorites]

Out of all the places where gay men could hook up, Humphreys argued that the men’s room (or “tearoom”) offered the most advantages to those seeking “homoerotic activity without commitment,” as it was easily identifiable to those looking for action but also private enough to veil activities. Tearooms could “attract a large volume of potential sexual partners, providing an opportunity for rapid actions with a variety of men” and could potentially pop up anywhere, from “department stores, bus stations, libraries, hotels, YMCA’s, or courthouses” to the “restrooms of public parks and beaches” and highway rest stops. Basically, any bathroom, especially if it had glory hole, could be a tearoom (not to say every bathroom should be).

See also: cottaging, which people in this neck of the woods use -- unironically -- to talk about a visit to a literal cottage.

They changed the name to The Glory Hall a few years ago.

Heh. In Toronto, there's a donut joint called Glory Hole Donuts.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:03 AM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of “glory hole” in English comes in 1825, when it was described as “a receptacle (as a drawer, room, etc,) in which things are heaped together without any attempt at order or tidiness.”

MeFi: Glory Hole.
posted by The Bellman at 11:06 AM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

In Toronto, there's a donut joint called Glory Hole Donuts.

I was going to make a humorous observation playing on the fact that some donuts are filled with cream, which you may be aware is also a slang term for ejaculate.

But they already did that right on the front page of the web site, so I have nothing to add. Bravo, Toronto donut shop. Well played.
posted by The Bellman at 11:12 AM on October 28, 2021 [6 favorites]

> a high-powered furnace burning at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit — hardly suitable for sex acts of any kind.

Ha! Speak for yourself.

Also, I'm just going to go ahead and assume that both may have been invented by a gay glass blower, no?
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 11:15 AM on October 28, 2021

The "Glory Hole" is also the nickname given by generations of boatmen to the opening through High Bridge in Lincoln, which was built in 1160.

It's the pinch point for any boats wanting to navigate between the rivers Witham and Trent via the Foss Dyke, which is the oldest canal in Britain and dates to Roman times.

I've no idea how far back this usage goes, but it could easily predate the 1825 usage in the OED.
posted by automatronic at 11:16 AM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

When I first heard of the innocent game of "cornholing" I said, "what??"
posted by mermayd at 11:54 AM on October 28, 2021 [9 favorites]

I used to teach a bicycle maintenance class. During one class on flat repair, I was explaining how a presta valve works, and I explained "the little part here is called a 'ballcock'" and some 13-year old kid in the back row just lost it. He tried hard to recover but he couldn't and eventually his dad took him out of the class so he wouldn't be a distraction. It was awesome.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 12:03 PM on October 28, 2021 [25 favorites]

the glory hole is a high-powered furnace burning at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit—hardly suitable for sex acts of any kind.

It's not cool to yuck my yum, thanks
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:04 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

wow this sucks
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:47 PM on October 28, 2021

OK the "customer comments" on that donut shop website are hilarious!!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:50 PM on October 28, 2021

For glass blowers, the glory hole is a high-powered furnace burning at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit—hardly suitable for sex acts of any kind.

Well, not twice at any rate.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:59 PM on October 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

If that 13 year-old kid ended up liking trains, he won't have far to go until he encounters an angle cock.
posted by stannate at 1:03 PM on October 28, 2021

Heck if you're into woodworking there are things literally called "sex nuts"
posted by RustyBrooks at 1:06 PM on October 28, 2021

I just thought of a better renaming option for Facebook
posted by polecat at 1:55 PM on October 28, 2021 [7 favorites]

James Joyce in Ulysses, I believe, describes The Citizen (the nationalist bigot who is a stand-in for the Cyclops) and his dog garyowen as being in their "gloryhole"... Knowing Joyce's erudition and playful obscenity, I'm guessing he meant both meanings and probably a whole dictionary of them still to be discovered.

Ah yes:

There he is, says I, in his gloryhole, with his cruiskeen lawn and his load of papers, working for the cause.

posted by Schmucko at 3:45 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

It's better in a Glory Hole
You know where you stand in a Glory Hole
Folks lend a hand in a Glory Hole
Girl, get me back to my Glory Hole
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:00 PM on October 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

Glory Hole was a common term in silver mining too. In mountain towns in Colorado there's quite a few parks, ski trails, etc named after a glory hole.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 4:39 PM on October 28, 2021

There is a spectacular glass art exhibit at the Renwick Gallery that opens right up with a list of Alternative Lexicons for the Hot Shop (scroll down) featuring “neutral,” “feminist” and “high brow” language choices, and ends with a blown glass meat chandelier as commentary on “the male-dominated and casually sexist arena of the glassblowing shop.”

Glory Hole = Reheating chamber / G spot / The chamber of the glorious corona of life affirming heat!

I've got to watch this show.
posted by marguerite at 4:57 PM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

The artist who made that meat chandelier is in the first season of this show!
posted by jeweled accumulation at 5:30 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

I have nothing relevant to say, except that this post is precisely the sort of thing I come to Metafilter for. Okay, also: that glassblowing contest show is great! Strong recommend.
posted by mersen at 5:40 PM on October 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Sequential glory hole approach as a new mining method for sustainable operations:

Some mines use shafts to outflow the material mined by surface methods aiming to reduce the average distance of haulage.

I bet they do.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:01 PM on October 28, 2021

You know where you stand in a Glory Hole

Is this located on or near the Sex Farm?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:08 PM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

I gotta admit, I was expecting this to be a Wordshore FPP.

Not enough small cakes. Slightly too few vicars.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:56 AM on October 29, 2021 [3 favorites]

A glory hole is also the name for a kind of spillway from an upper to lower waterway, bypassing a dam during flood conditions (to prevent the dam from overflowing). This particular kind of spillway looks like a "hole" in the water. This article descibes one in Califoria and includes pictures of others around the world.
posted by avapoet at 1:27 AM on November 1, 2021

I will always be thankful to Blown Away for enabling me to hear the phrase "My piece exploded in the glory hole". The juvenile giggling I did for the next couple of minutes improved my day to no end.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:00 AM on November 1, 2021

I was going to make a humorous observation playing on the fact that some donuts are filled with cream, which you may be aware is also a slang term for ejaculate.

Every year, it gets harder and harder for me to order Boston cream pie donuts in public.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 8:34 AM on November 1, 2021

There's also one of the finest Onion op-eds ever penned:

I Think I'll Drive The Kids Up To The State Park To See This 'Glory Hole'

How did I hear about the Glory Hole? Well, when I took Skipper to get his nails clipped, I overheard one of the groomers talking about it to Don, who had his poodle in for a shampoo. The groomer said the Glory Hole was "mind-blowing," and Don said he was definitely going to check it out. When I asked them about it, they clammed up. They always seem to be clued-in to the newest restaurants and art museums, so I'll bet they wanted to keep the Glory Hole a secret. Well, for once, the McTaggerts are in the know!

posted by Rhaomi at 11:17 PM on November 4, 2021