Ask Lemmy

Not quite what you're asking for, but when I first heard the phrase "balls to the wall", I thought that it alluded to testicles. One of the Grand Theft Auto games has some radio audio that uses it satirically in this sense as well ("Lazlow, get your balls to the wall" or something similar).

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/balls_to_the_wall

First attested in the 1960s in the context of aviation, in reference to ball-shaped grips on an aircraft's engine controls (typically throttle, prop pitch and fuel mixture). Pushing these "balls to the wall" would put the aircraft at maximum thrust.[1][2] Analogous to pedal to the metal. Not related to the term balls-out, which refers to a ball governor on a steam engine.[3] Neither balls-out nor balls to the wall is connected with the vulgar sense of balls (“testicles”) except via folk etymology.

EDIT: The GTA audio in question (the song itself used the phrase satirically, and the announcer does as well):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVWwG6RJrLA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balls_to_the_Wall_(album)

Balls to the Wall is the fifth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released in 1983. It is Accept's only record to attain Gold certification in the US.[1] The album's title track became Accept's signature song and remains a metal anthem and trademark in the genre.