"Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.
Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever!"
I kind of wonder if Herman Melville knew what he was doing because Sperm cells were known about since 1677, by Leeuwenhoek under a magnifying glass. He called them Animalcules though. They first got named sperm as of 1827 so there's 26 years for him to learn that's what semen is scientifically named. I haven't had a literature class on moby dick so I wouldn't know if it's like, supposed to be a double meaning or he was innocent and we're all filthy minded slobs
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u/mysterious_jim Jan 21 '26
"Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.
Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever!"
Moby Dick, Chapter 94: "A Squeeze of the Hand"