Slang dictionary

pornstache

What does pornstache mean?

A pornstache is a mustache that makes the wearer look sleazy, predatory, or cheaply groomed.

It can appear in many different forms and styles, although the most common one is a thick, heavy mustache with slightly elongated ends and no accompanying facial hair. However, a pornstache is generally identified by its effect on the appearance of the wearer, and not by any specific traits of its own.

Where does pornstache come from?

pornstache
hellogiggles.com

Pornstache is a portmanteau that combines the terms porn and stache. Stache has been used in English as a shortened form of mustache since the 1960s.

What we now call the pornstache was actually the style du jour in the 1970s and ‘80s, when it connoted manliness and virility. However, while the style began to fall out of mainstream fashion, it was still heavily favored by male porn stars (possibly because they felt it reinforced their masculinity). The pornstache in modern times is both a symbol of sexual lasciviousness and a hint that the wearer is out of touch with current fashions. The pornstatche can also be an ironic statement when sported by classically handsome young men.

The pornstache was revived as a pop-culture term in 2013, when the popular Netflix show Orange Is the New Black featured a character named George “Pornstache” Mendez, played by Pablo Schreiber, who sports a dark and bushy specimen of pornstache.

Examples of pornstache

“I just stared down two 9.4 girls that walked in to get alcohol. I wonder which was more creepy the drool or the pornstache I currently have”
DC @dccoletrain Twitter (April 15, 2017)
“He was six feet, with negligible body fat, well-defined muscles and a sly smile framed by what today might be called a pornstache. To trade in understatement, he did not struggle to find female companionship. ‘He was a suave, sophisticated fella,’ says Jon Carey, a PSU quarterback in ’72.”
L. Jon Wertheim, “The I-5 Killer,” Sports Illustrated (November 2016)
“Jake 'The Snake' Plummer's cheerleader girlfriend not only has a porn star name (Kollette Klassen) but also a porn star bod (sorta NSFW). Man, maybe if your Uncle Grambo grew a kickass pornstache like Plummer used to have, I could score me one of them Automotion broads.”
Uncle Grambo, “SNL Season 31 ... REVEALED!” Whatevs.org (October 21, 2005)
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Who uses pornstache?

Pornstache is viewed by some as a derogatory term. It can be used to insult a person’s appearance or demeanor, and generally mocks the person who has the moustache style for ignoring or being ignorant of its connotations. It can also be used teasingly or self-deprecatingly, since people who wear pornstaches may do so ironically.

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of pornstache like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of pornstache that will help our users expand their word mastery.

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