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dongle

JungKim

Senior Member
Korean
In The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has this segment called "Pros and Cons", where he said this about the pros and cons of the New iPhone:
PRO: There's still no headphone jack, so hang on to your dongle.
CON: "Hang on to your dongle" is what Ted Cruz does when he logs onto Twitter

What does the "CON" line mean?

I guess he may have been referring to this incident as reported in this article titled "Ted Cruz Twitter account 'likes' pornographic tweet".

If so, does "dongle" in the "CON" line mean something different from the one in the "PRO" line?
In the first line dongle means a device which plugs into a socket on an electrical device and which doesn't have a cable attached. It could be a wireless adapter for example.

In the second line dongle is being used as a slang term for penis.
I agree. Dongle is one of those words that just sounds funny and almost dirty, even though it has an innocent meaning.

Yes, much like dingus.
In AE the word "dong" is a slang word for "penis" (there are many). That is the joke in the "CON" line: "dongle" sounds similar.
This is a dongle on an Apple Iphone. They have eliminated the earphone jack and it is supposed to rely on blue tooth for headphones. But if you want to use a wired headphone you need the dongle adapter:



Hang onto your dongle means "do not dispose of your dongle". I suspect it was made to sound slightly more perverse by the use of "hang onto".

If you Google "dangle" you will get references to Deputy Dangle, a comic TV law enforcement officer. No doubt a penis reference. So Dangle-Dongle, I suspect that there was some leering behind the "hold onto your dongle".

Deputy Dangle:
In the second line dongle is being used as a slang term for penis.

In AE the word "dong" is a slang word for "penis" (there are many). That is the joke in the "CON" line: "dongle" sounds similar.

So, I gather "dong" is the slang term and that only by sounding similar is "dongle" being used as the slang term with the aid of context, right?
I mean, "dongle" isn't used as the slang term per se as commonly as "dong", right?

Hang on to your dongle means "do not dispose of your dongle".
That is, I think, the meaning of "hang on to" in the "PRO" line.

But in the "CON" line, doesn't "hang on to" simply mean "hold or grip tightly"?
Because the "CON" line may be referring to Ted Cruz holding his "dongle" tightly while watching and liking a pornographic tweet.
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Yes, you have correctly identified the double meaning of "hang on to".
Very clever, isn't he? He has incorporated double meanings into just two lines of text.
The only thing I don't understand is how lack of a headphone socket can be a "pro". It seems to me that it would be "con".
Thanks for confirming, Edinburgher.
Regarding lack of a headphone socket being a "pro", I think they didn't put it back this time, which means that you get to use the dongle you had bought for the last iPhone.
Regarding lack of a headphone socket being a "pro", I think they didn't put it back this time, which means that you get to use the dongle you had bought for the last iPhone.
I suppose it might be considered a "pro" if the new phone is compatible with the old dongle, and you don't have to buy a new dongle when you get a new phone
But the way the sentence is phrased, there is a clear implication that the absence of a headphone jack is an convenience that means you will to hold on to your old dongle (or buy a new on if you've thrown it away).
If they re-instated the jack would have been be a pro, because then you could plug your headphone directly into the phone without needing to carry the dongle around with you.
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