Truck Nutz (Encore)

Decoder Ring

Slate Podcasts

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Truck Nutz is a brand name for the dangling plastic testicles some people affix to the bumpers or hitches of their vehicles. Also sold as Bulls Balls, Your Nutz, and other brand names, these plastic novelties have a powerful symbolic charge and are often associated with a crass, macho, red state audience. But truck nuts are a surprisingly complicated signifier whose symbolic power is increasingly divorced from their real-world usage. On this episode, we talk to owners and users of truck nuts, investigate the origins of the accessories, and deconstruct the meaning of these oft-joked-about symbols. We’ll also take a tour of other novelty testicle products, including Bike Balls (testicular bike lights), Gunsticles (plastic testicles for guns), and Neuticles (prosthetic testicles for neutered pets), to better understand the maligned symbolism of truck nuts. Links and further reading on some of the things we discussed on the show: Ad for Monster Truck Nuts Truck Nutz Prank Call Elie Mystal’s writing on truck nuts for Above the Law Austin Vasectomy in Austin Texas This episode was written by Willa Paskin and edited and produced by Benjamin Frisch. Decoder Ring is produced by Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Evan Chung is our supervising producer. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected]. Or you can also call us now at our new Decoder Ring hotline at 347-460-7281. We love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey folks, it's Charles Duhigg, the former host of Slate's advice podcast, How To, and the author of The Power of Habit.
0:07.0	I'm teaming up with Slate again for a mini-series based on my latest book, Super Communicators, How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.
0:15.2	It's a deep dive into how to have better conversations about the neuroscience behind how we connect with each other and why the right
0:21.9	questions can transform complete strangers into immediate friends.
0:26.1	The very first time I did this was at a conference.
0:30.6	These were all like C-suite executives.
0:33.2	That's the psychologist Nick Epley.
0:35.0	He paired all those execs up and then he told them that they had to
0:37.8	ask and answer a really personal question. When's the last time you cried in front of another
0:43.8	person? And you could sort of feel the whole room just groan. After 10 minutes, everybody was deep
0:51.2	in conversation. I finally get to 20 minutes. A couple of them are hugging each other.
0:56.3	It was kind of magical that moment, actually.
0:59.1	Join me, Charles Duhigg, for super communicators, wherever you get your podcasts.
1:06.6	Hi.
1:07.9	So today we have an episode for you that we made back in 2019. There's no gentle way to say exactly what it's about, so I'm just going to come right out with it. It is about truck nuts.
1:20.3	Truck nuts are plastic testicles that most often show up on the back of trucks, as if to say my truck has balls and actually a whole lot of other
1:30.7	things besides. I remember when this topic first came up, I was like, I don't know if we can do
1:35.8	this. This is very icky and off-putting and blue, but that's actually why it was a great
1:42.1	subject. There is a lot going on when you steal yourself and look closely at the truck nut.
1:49.5	And all of it is as relevant today as it was when we first made this episode.
1:54.4	So please enjoy.
1:56.7	Also, just a heads up before we begin, that it contains some adult language.
	...

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