Personally, I think that the translators' choice has nothing to do with priggishness, and everything to do with God's inspiration. Upon reflection, I think that there is a very good reason why the same word is used for sex as is used when we are told in John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
To "know" God produces eternal life--To "know" one's wife produces a new life.
When we accept Christ as our savior (or "know" Him), the Holy Spirit enters us, and a new life begins to grow deep within us where (sometimes) no one can see it at first. We care for this new life by nourishing it with daily Prayer, Bible study and fellowship with other believers. We make sure to get plenty of exercise by obedience to the Word of God. Over time, as this new creation grows, it becomes evident to others that we are pregnant, but the new baby cannot yet be seen or really known. When God decides that the time is right, we enter a period of labor which may, in the spiritual sense, be the death of our physical body. Finally, sometimes after a long period of discomfort, pain and sometimes suffering, the new creation, a new person that is inseparably part of it's mother and part of it's father (God) is born.
Philippians 3:10 puts it well when Paul says, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,"
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