As an 8th grader, I was invited by a classmate to spend a day and a night with him in the family's place in a seaside resort. That evening, he and I saw the musical "The Student Prince" by Sigmund Romberg. It is filled with stirring, rhythmic music urging all manly guys to drink and drink some more, toasting, honoring, adoring their sweethearts. The songs and the lyrics must have affected us since when we got back to the apartment, we felt charged with energy. My friend's older brother was out on a date and the movie encouraged us to imagine he was having a merry and manly time. We wanted our share of his attention so we placed a wooden chair on his bed with a note "The Virile Victors".
I thought "virile" meant "manly". After all, I took Latin. In that language, man can be "vir" and I had heard the word used once or twice. We were feeling especially powerful and daring so the note seemed right. We never heard any reaction the next day or ever. I had no idea that many people reserve the word for manly powers between the sheets in the company of one's sweetheart. She was portrayed by Ann Blyth in the movie. (Ann was a teen crush of mine even though I never met the lady.)
At the time, we had no credentials for virility, in or out of bed. Some words can surprise a person. You can see one or more versions of The Student Prince on YouTube.
