१४ सप्टेंबर, २०२१

"Similar to the 5-inch inseam short craze that took over the video-sharing app in the summer of 2020..."

"... TikTok users are now getting all hot and bothered over men sporting another simple, unpretentious piece of garb: the backwards baseball cap. In a recent viral trend, users are sharing videos of their boyfriends and husbands in baseball caps backed by the popular TikTok sound called 'I like you have a cupcakke,' which is used to share a user’s personal preferences. The format goes like this: words flash across the screen indicating things that a user likes as a child’s voice repeats the words, 'I like you, have a cupcake.' Then, abruptly, the sound is interrupted by the rapper Cupcakke’s song 'Vagina,' at which point a final phrase appears on the screen, this time indicating the thing the user likes most of all, trumping all else. In the baseball hat videos, women film their significant others wearing normal, forward-facing caps and then no caps... then...  wearing their caps backwards."

The relevant TikTok videos are embedded at the link, so I won't put them here. I don't know if I noticed the shorts craze last summer. Maybe not. Was I using TikTok then? It's something I like to look at these days. But whatever. I had never heard of the rapper Cupcakke, nor of the song "Vagina," which sounds rather obvious, but I will read the lyrics

Okay. I've accomplished the task I assigned myself. I was surprised to see that it was by a woman. Isn't that weird? I thought a man was contemplating the mysterious genitalia of the other, but it turns out Cupcakke is female, and it's another one of those songs bragging about one's own genitalia. And really, it's absolutely mere chance that I've got 2 posts in a row with prominent genitalia.

As for hats... did you know that Freud thought hats were a phallic symbol? From "The Intepretation of Dreams":
1. The hat as the symbol of a man (of the male genitals): 
(A fragment from the dream of a young woman who suffered from agoraphobia as the result of her fear of temptation.) - 
I am walking in the street in summer; I am wearing a straw hat of peculiar shape, the middle piece of which is bent upwards, while the side pieces hang downwards (here the description hesitates), and in such a fashion that one hangs lower than the other. I am cheerful and in a confident mood, and as I pass a number of young officers I think to myself: You can't do anything to me. 
As she could produce no associations to the hat, I said to her: "The hat is really a male genital organ, with its raised middle piece and the two downward-hanging side pieces." It is perhaps peculiar that her hat should be supposed to be a man, but after all one says: Unter die Haube kommen (to get under the cap) when we mean: to get married. I intentionally refrained from interpreting the details concerning the unequal dependence of the two side pieces, although the determination of just such details must point the way to the interpretation. I went on to say that if, therefore, she had a husband with such splendid genitals she would not have to fear the officers; that is, she would have nothing to wish from them, for it was essentially her temptation - phantasies which prevented her from going about unprotected and unaccompanied. This last explanation of her anxiety I had already been able to give her repeatedly on the basis of other material. 
It is quite remarkable how the dreamer behaved after this interpretation. She withdrew her description of the hat and would not admit that she had said that the two side pieces were hanging down. I was, however, too sure of what I had heard to allow myself to be misled, and so I insisted that she did say it. She was quiet for a while, and then found the courage to ask why it was that one of her husband's testicles was lower than the other, and whether it was the same with all men. With this the peculiar detail of the hat was explained, and the whole interpretation was accepted by her. 
The hat symbol was familiar to me long before the patient related this dream. From other but less transparent cases I believed that I might assume the hat could also stand for the female genitals.

If it is true — and who believes Freud anymore? — that the hat symbolizes male (or female) genitalia, what does it mean to put your hat on backwards? You can connect the dots. What do dots symbolize?! I'll just say that a ball cap — hmm, ball cap — has a visor for a very functional reason, to shade your eyes. If you turn it around backwards, you're losing the functionality. 

Anyway, I think those TikTok videos about short shorts and backwards hats are satire! It's not serious advice about how to look sexy, and if you fall for it, that's just another data point in the larger picture of how unsexy you are.

३८ टिप्पण्या:

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

Cupcakke is no Dylan. Not going to win the Nobel with that. But might win a Grammy.

Narr म्हणाले...

Dr. Fraud of Vienna. One of the sickest influencers of the 19th C.

Who believes Freud anymore, indeed.

Tik-Tok is a commie plot, so I avoid it; I always assume that people wearing baseball hats backward are halfwits, and I'm usually right.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Five inch inseam is my choice. Maximum cooling

cassandra lite म्हणाले...

Thanks, Ann, now I, too, have read the "lyrics."

They do not compare favorably to "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)."

Cole Porter can rest easy, though I think he'd be surprised by how prescient "Anything Goes" was.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

'Tik-Tok is a commie plot, so I avoid it; I always assume that people wearing baseball hats backward are halfwits, and I'm usually right.'

This is correct.

Ignorance is Bliss म्हणाले...

George Carlin on backwards baseball hats

Temujin म्हणाले...

I remember when the wearing your baseball cap on backward was first becoming a staple of men's dress. This was a few decades back. A friend remarked to me as we saw a guy come into his restaurant wearing his hat on backwards, "The international sign of idiocy."

It kinda stuck with me over the years.

Howard म्हणाले...

Real men wear Speedo's

Big Mike म्हणाले...

Three posts about genitalia in two days, plus a picture of AOC’s tush. What is going on at the Meadehouse residence?

Or perhaps I know?

Mikey NTH म्हणाले...

I always thought a hat was to keep my head from getting cold or wet.

Nancy म्हणाले...

Ann, did you really read all the lyrics? I felt like throwing up after 1 verse.

John henry म्हणाले...

Where can I get one of those caps? Are they available via the portal?

When I go to the local stores all the caps have the bill on the front.

I

tcrosse म्हणाले...

A hat is a phallic symbol unless it's a garrison cap, known in the trade as a cunt cap.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

I need at least an 8" inseam IYKWIMAITYD.

SGT Ted म्हणाले...

I put backwards baseball caps in the same category that Althouse puts most shorts: Childrens clothing. In fact, those two fashion trends rose together.

Jeff म्हणाले...

If it is true — and who believes Freud anymore? — that the hat symbolizes male (or female) genitalia, what does it mean to put your hat on backwards?
There's a dickhead joke in there somewhere.

effinayright म्हणाले...

Anyone who still thinks Western Civilization has hasn't regressed to savagery should read those lyrics.

curiosity म्हणाले...

You are selling the utility of wearing a hat backwards (and the utility of hats at large) short!

The ability to flip it backwards is part of the utility! It is dynamic providing shade for your eyes when you need it or allowing you to see the world with more light when you don't!

Also wearing it backwards does provide shade for your neck, which is a place I find that I get sunburn the most.

ALSO ALSO! A hat ALWAYS provides sun protection for the top of your head, and can cover up male pattern baldness. Not that I have any of that type of thing going on myself.

Narr म्हणाले...

There are legitimate circumstances when a bb hat can be worn backwards. For men, if you have to get in close to fix a car or furnace, sure. Sunburned neck? Better to look a fool than be one.

For women, well, in some situations requiring lips, it's better to have the bill out of the way.


Bilwick म्हणाले...

Does the backwards baseball cap have sex appeal, enduring or otherwise? I am a heterosexual male, so I guess what appeals to me sexually is irrelevant; but all the backwards baseball cap says to me is "the wearer is a mindless trendoid."

My favorite comment on this was, as I recall, on The Bleat, James Lileks' blog, which had a photo of some guy sitting in the bleachers at some ball game, shading his eyes with his hand while wearing a backwards baseball cap. Lileks' caption: "Hey, maybe I could reverse my cap so the bill shades my eyes. . . nah, that's just crazy talk!"

Wilbur म्हणाले...

A backwards cap is required dress for The Drunken Moron Brigade at televised golf tournaments who scream such witticisms as "GET IN THE HOLE!" or "MASHED POTATOES!"

When I worked the annual tournaments at Doral in Miami, I asked a few of these cretins why they did this. The uniform answer was so they could hear themselves on TV later.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

The backwards cap is the Roy Campanella look.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"Ann, did you really read all the lyrics? I felt like throwing up after 1 verse."

I felt like I had the power to look at the page and read all the words in one look... kind of like what they purported to teach you in the old Evelyn Wood classes. I'd always assumed that wasn't what it was cracked up to be, but for one brief shining moment, I was a speed reader.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"The ability to flip it backwards is part of the utility! It is dynamic providing shade for your eyes when you need it or allowing you to see the world with more light when you don't! ..."

Also lets you put on your catcher's mask.

Scott Patton म्हणाले...

"If you turn it around backwards, you're losing the functionality."
But gaining the security of better aerodynamics. On a bike, in a boat, headwinds, high winds, when the visor is interfering with the functionality of the hat.

hshimmin म्हणाले...

There was a window when Black women could be successful recording artists with lyrics aimed a bit higher than Cardi B or CupcakKe. The 1955 hit for Columbia Records: Keep Your Hand On the Plow was metaphorical, but not a sexual analog. “When my way get dark at night, oh, the Lord will be my light. . . “ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J46HlbbC94

Iman म्हणाले...

“Real men wear Speedo's”

—- Howard teh chickadee smuggler

Maynard म्हणाले...

The George Carlin clip was great.

Most adult males look stupid with their caps backwards, except baseball catchers. However, I think that White guys and Black guys look equally dumb. Of course, White guys always look worse because they are valiantly trying to look as cool as Black guys - can't be done.

Carlin would be cancelled today, of course.

Howard म्हणाले...

It can shade your neck if the sun's to your back.

Howard म्हणाले...

"The Drunken Moron Brigade"

IOW Trumpers

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

"The Drunken Moron Brigade"

IOW Trumpers

***

Or any of the Kennedy clan...

Baceseras म्हणाले...

Rally cap. Turn the bill to the back to get a rally going, I thought everyone knew that. But first you have establish the norm of wearing the bill to the front for this to work,

Big Mike म्हणाले...

Guys have been wearing their baseball caps backwards for at least the last thirty years. It doesn’t keep the sun out of your eyes nor the win out of your face, and the sweatband is no longer positioned on your forehead where it can do some good keeping sweat out of your eyes. But, to each his own.

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

Ray Stevens wore a cap (not technically a baseball hat since it was a Caterpillar logo cap) sideways. I wonder about the significance.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

My comment at 5:01 should have read “nor the rain out of your face”

Some day I will figure out how to proofread my own comments.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

My comment at 5:01 should have read “nor the rain out of your face”

Some day I will figure out how to proofread my own comments.

daskol म्हणाले...

The Coen bros are the last word in hat symbolism. Nothing so foolish as a man chasing his hat.

Bunkypotatohead म्हणाले...

I never saw a MAGA hat with the slogan printed on the back. Or any MAGA hat wearers with it on backward.