Pornado is a slang term for a lot of pornography. A modern portmanteau of the words “porn” and “tornado,” this term is often used to refer to the deluge of pornographic content, advertising and links that pop up on websites with adult content. It can also describe a lot of porn-related pop-ups and content triggered by clicking on a seemingly non-porn-related link or advertisement. A lot of unsolicited pornographic content received via email, text message, instant message, or viruses is also called a pornado. The term pornado can also be used in a more general sense to describe a cultural climate where a lot of pornography is easily accessible.
How is the term pornado used?
Pornado is typically used in a negative sense by people exasperated by the oversaturation of pornographic content or concerned that someone may see adult content they didn’t intend to have on their screen. However, website administrators may use this term in a positive fashion to lure visitors to their sites. Prominent porn websites like Pornhub and Eporner both list “pornado videos” that see them ranking prominently on search engines for this term. Pornado has also become the name of a free search engine for pornography. In other words, while a pornado may be a negative thing for some people, porn fanatics may seek it out.
As with many portmanteaus, pornado also has humorous undertones. People may use the term to poke fun at the abundance of porn that is typical of adult spaces online. They may say they got swept away by a pornado if they clicked on various porn-related links and pop-ups and found themselves viewing porn they originally hadn’t intended to, perhaps on websites they didn’t originally visit.
Some people use the Fujita scale to classify pornadoes, as meteorologists do when classifying tornadoes. For example, if they trigger a lot of porn-related pop-ups they might say they experienced an F5 pornado. Triggering a smaller number of porn-related content may only be classified as an F2 pornado.