Wang Laboratories, Inc. was founded for $600 in 1951 in Boston by Dr. An Wang. They built office equipment, calculators and (later) computers. Early successes for Dr. Wang included workable magnetic core memory. Wang Labs is headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts (I think). Dr. Wang passed away at age 70 in 1990.

I used the WANG VS in my first co-op job oh so many moons ago. For those for whom size does matter note that this WANG filled a small room and needed a dedicated air conditioner to keep it cool enough to operate.

Many office WANGs were dedicated word processors, with a pair of dual 8-inch disk drives. The 8 inch floppy diskettes were, of course, variously referred to as "8 inch floppies" or "8 inch Wangs," but never in front of the secretary who used the machine. (Note: This was long before the rise of the Administrative Assistant).

i can't believe i'm the first to mention this...

SLANG FOR PENIS!

As in "I wank my wang wonderfully, Walter! Why won't you?"

Wang is not used as phallic slang so much these days, though it still maintains noteable usage as such in the online comic strip Penny Arcade and dumb jokes some might make about eastern Asian last names. Wang actually is a last name (see Lord Brawl's earlier writeup) for some people. Wang is the last name of the fictional character Lo Wang (yes, his name is supposed to be a pun), star of 3D Realms' Shadow Warrior computer game.

It's unknown how exaclty wang came to mean penis, though a possibility is that it began with an onomatopoetic phrase for a quick hardening of the penis that doesn't really occur, similar to "Shwing!" from Wayne's World. That is, the sound effect doesn't really occur, not the quick hardening. Perhaps someone slammed their erect penis against some sort of gong, creating a resounding "wang" (and a lot of pain).

Either way (or even another way): "Wang!" is fun to shout. Go on, try it.*

*Try at your own risk. Remember: You break it you buy it.

Wang had/has a division in Cologne, Germany. Overheard as "Wang Cologne" and misinterpreted...

Note for US readers - see this node to better understand why this was amusing.

Wang is also an Indonesian unit of measure, used when dealing with precious metals.

1 wang = 1.127g

Wang (?), n. [OE. wange, AS. wange, wonge, cheek, jaw; akin to D. wang, OS. & OHG. wanga, G. wange.]

1.

The jaw, jawbone, or cheek bone.

[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

So work aye the wangs in his head. Chaucer.

2.

A slap; a blow.

[Prov. Eng.]

Halliwell.

Wang tooth, a cheek tooth; a molar. [Obs.]

Chaucer.

 

© Webster 1913.


Wang (?), n.

See Whang.

[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

 

© Webster 1913.

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