Etymology of the term ‘love handles’

Ah, Spring. The season of rebirth arrives, bringing with it blooming flowers, budding trees and young lovers catching ‘spring fever’. The long cold winter melts away with every new blossom. Birds are singing and the daytime temperature warms the soul away from the memories of the frozen cold. ‘Tis the season of newness, joy and thinking about how many times you can go to the gym and work off your love handles before you bare your bikinied bottom for the world during your summer vacation on the French Riviera.

Love handles are a cross-cultural problem and the French refer to the lovely roll of fat that hangs around the midsection as poignées d’amour. The passionate endearment for the fleshy, unappealing life preserver that encircles the bodies of many men in their later years is not limited only to the romantic hommes de la France. Amorous neighboring Italians also lovingly refer to their gastronomic excess baggage as maniglie dell’amore, perhaps owing the term to their fondness for Vespa cruising and prowess for lovemaking.

Americans and British alike use the term “love handles” to describe the unsightly flesh that builds up around the abdomen for both men and women. The term ‘handle’ connotes ‘something to hold on to’ and the term ‘love’ implies ‘making some’ while using the blubber to balance one’s body during the physical act of passionate exchange.

The Germans, who know their brew and are more akin to our Fraternity brothers and fans of the summertime sausage, refer to love handles as der Bierbauch or, the beer belly. The Teutons were also famous for naming the post-birth roundness of a mother’s tummy as Baby Speck or, baby bacon. While the Germans love their beer and swine, the French have a long-standing love affair with pastries and thus, demonstratively dub the grand estomac after brioche.

Car trouble is as ubiquitous as love handles to the British and Americans who designate the donut shaped fat storage around the midriff as a ‘spare tire’ (or tyre in the case of the English). The French use the shortened ‘tire’ and the Spanish speak of the euphemistic ‘Michelin’.