Old News: "Little factory" enters Utah's lexicon

What drove the news: During the church's 1976 fall General Conference, Boyd K. Packer delivered his now-infamous "little factory" talk, warning the faith's men and boys against masturbation.

• The sermon, titled "Message to Young Men", was then printed into the "To Young Men Only" pamphlet that stayed in circulation until 2016.

What they said: Packer referred to the male reproductive system as a "little factory" that "will sometimes produce an oversupply" of a "life-giving substance."

• Nocturnal emissions provide an acceptable "release valve," he explained.

Between the lines: After the talk, "little factory" escaped into secular parlance as a local euphemism for male genitalia.

By the numbers: If you're playing dirty-word Scrabble in Utah, "f-a-c-t-o-r-y" snags a word score of 15.

Previously in Old News

• When white people came to Utah
• What it took to get Warren Jeffs into prison
• Baby's first liquor license
• SLC has been trying to fix Pioneer Park for more than a century
• Salt Lake's first racist housing covenants