4 ઑક્ટોબર, 2026

"I never liked that term, 'guy's guy.'"

Said Meade, reading the previous post, the one about the man who shot the rooster named Nixon.

That sounds like one of those sentences that makes me think I'm experiencing another bout of transient alexia.

What's wrong with the phrase "guy's guy"? I'd ask Meade but he's watching that video I sent him, the one with a guy named Larry listing a lot of things he's not going to do anymore now that he's 72.

Left to my own devices I went looking for "guy's guy" in my blog archive. I believe I've only used the phrase once: "Now, if everyone would please dial down all the criticism and let Obama get on with his un-self-conscious guy's guy agenda, it will all work out just fine."

That was in an October 26, 2009 post called  "Obama's White House boy's club." And I was using the phrase jokingly echoing something the NYT had written: 
Does the White House feel like a frat house?

The suspicion flared in recent weeks — and not for the first time — after President Obama was criticized by women’s advocates and liberal bloggers for hosting a high-level basketball game with no female players.

The president, after all, is an unabashed First Guy’s Guy....

He presides over a White House rife with fist-bumping young men who call each other “dude” and testosterone-brimming personalities like Rahm Emanuel, the often-profane chief of staff; Lawrence Summers, the brash economic adviser; and Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, who habitually speaks in sports metaphors....
Interesting. Remember that? This gets my old "Obama and manliness" tag. Lawrence Summers... hmm... what if you were a guy's guy and the guy was Epstein?

Meade finished the Larry video and I did get a chance to ask what was the problem with "guy's guy," but it was a long conversation that went all over the place and involved many detours and contradictions. Was it an insult or a compliment? Why is anyone pleased to fit a stereotype? Are those within the stereotype there because they really want to do these things — what things? hunting? — or because they want to fit in? Is there a female equivalent? "Woman's woman" isn't an expression. What would it even mean? And much more. I aired my theory of the Bluto/Popeye distinction. Would a guy's guy have such a conversation?

44 ટિપ્પણીઓ:

Yancey Ward કહ્યું...

Yeah, the manliness of the Obama White House really stood out to everyone.

Ann Althouse કહ્યું...

Grok gave me this: ""Girl's girl" has become common in the last decade or so, especially online. It means a woman who is loyal to female friends, doesn't compete by undercutting them, and generally sides with other women rather than centering male attention. That is closer in structure—"X's X"—but the content is solidarity and anti-rivalry, not "stereotypically feminine and preferred by other women for that reason." You can be a girl's girl without being particularly girly, and a very feminine woman can still be described as not a girl's girl if she is seen as throwing other women under the bus."

tommyesq કહ્યું...

Is a "guy's guy" different from a "man's man?"

michaele કહ્યું...

My, how times have changed...nowadays, Obama seems so pussy whipped by Michelle.

Ice Nine કહ્યું...

Bless you for explaining that you said it jokingly, Althouse. I don't think I could have gone on.

Biff કહ્યું...

It's always amusing when the NYT reveals whom it considers to be brimming with testosterone.

rehajm કહ્યું...

…slight breach of form, frat boi Larry Summers was brought to heel by the witchy scolds…

rehajm કહ્યું...

…did they happen to mention the amount of alexia needed so it no longer classifies as just passing through?

Earnest Prole કહ્યું...

Similarly, I’ve never liked the terms, ‘buddy’ and ‘bud.’

bagoh20 કહ્યું...

Gay

Ann Althouse કહ્યું...

"Bless you for explaining that you said it jokingly, Althouse. I don't think I could have gone on."

Man up.

john mosby કહ્યું...

Yep, even Obama knows that men could hurt women in basketball - even when one of the men is Obama. CC, JSM

Howard કહ્યું...

Meade must fancy himself a lady boy

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent કહ્યું...

In our house we say “massive lad” but we’ve been listening to way too much The Rest is History.
And I’m only half-joking since I’ve noticed we also say things like “very poor behavior” and “let himself down” without irony. I’ve never considered myself impressionable, so it’s interesting to see a family’s speech changed, however slightly, by an outside influence.

Hey Skipper કહ્યું...

A guy's guy doesn't have a feminine side with which to get in touch.

Smilin' Jack કહ્યું...

“The president, after all, is an unabashed First Guy’s Guy....”

Trump is more of a ladies man, which is a lot more fun.

Aggie કહ્યું...

'...testosterone-brimming personalities like Rahm Emanuel...'

Sure, that's the first thing that comes to mind when his name is mentioned. Robert Reich, too.

A guy's guy is somebody that anybody with practical handy experience or athletic ability would feel comfortable hanging out with. A guy with a shop in his garage, who hunts or camps, or regularly visits a supply house. He may or may not be blue collar. There's a certain kinship there - and they are never narcissists. Obama was never a 'guy's guy'.

tcrosse કહ્યું...

Jeeves was a gentleman's gentleman.

tcrosse કહ્યું...

"Regular guy" or "ordinary guy" are more common.

Joe Bar કહ્યું...

Lately I've been hearing the term "a comic's comic" a lot on podcasts.

I'm feeling a "guy's guy" is the same as a "dude's dude."

Smilin' Jack કહ્યું...

If Bernie had been elected he’d be a bro’s bro.

Hassayamper કહ્યું...

Trump is more of a ladies man, which is a lot more fun.

My late father was that way. He was devotedly faithful to my mom and never set a foot out of line, but he was a leader of men and the very center of female attention in any room he entered. I got none of his charisma and less than his share of handsome good looks, but it was successfully passed down to my son.

Lloyd W. Robertson કહ્યું...

James Garner. Guy's guy.

Bruce Hayden કહ્યું...

I am not sure how I would describe a man’s man. My partner always says it with a “woman’s man”. It’s a man who women want to be around, as well as men. Her father, and her late and her ex husband fall into that category - though being French and flirting constantly, her father might not qualify. But he was a master welder, and built everything around the house, from much of the furniture, to the dance floor and pictures frames for his wife.

I didn’t fall into the category because I was never that smooth with men, and spent my career in less manly vocations, but I have redeemed myself somewhat with my 2k’ sq ft two story garage, full of manly things, my gun collection, etc. And, yes, because I won the prize, in terms of women.

Her stepson definitely falls into that category. He’s the head Stewart of the LV electricians union, so popular with the other guys that they donated hours of annual leave when he had brain cancer (likely from the C19 ModRNA vaccines) and ran out of leave. But so popular with women that they continually give him their phone numbers, unsolicited, every time we see him. His garage isn’t quite as big as mine, but he does have 2 welders, and all the hand tools you would ever need.

RCOCEAN II કહ્યું...

Heard of the phrase a "man's man" but never a "Guys Guy".

TR- A man's man
FDR - Total fem.

JFK - A man's man
Clinton - A total fem.

RCOCEAN II કહ્યું...

One thing i dislike is leaders who surround themselves with women and beta males. Trump isn't one of those.

Bruce Hayden કહ્યું...

The reason that Obama never could have been a man’s man is that his appeal was to the women. His wife is someone none of us would have touched with a ten foot pole. Who would we rather hang out with - Obama or John McCain III, or even Mitt Romney. Obama won election almost completely on women’s votes. Men saw through him, no matter how much of a MCP he was in the White House.

Joe Bar કહ્યું...

I've always considered myself something of a Goy's Goy.

Bruce Hayden કહ્યું...

”One thing i dislike is leaders who surround themselves with women and beta males. Trump isn't one of those.”

Definitely not. Not when his Secs of War and HHS do well publicized pull up contests. Probably not a beta male among them.

Bruce Hayden કહ્યું...

“My late father was that way. He was devotedly faithful to my mom and never set a foot out of line, but he was a leader of men and the very center of female attention in any room he entered. I got none of his charisma and less than his share of handsome good looks, but it was successfully passed down to my son.”

Sounds just like my late father-in-law. His middle daughter, my partner, got his charisma, as well as his three grandsons, (but not his granddaughter ) and one or two of his great grandsons. We shall see about the son of the great grandson who definitely got it.

Of course, while we got our parents’ brains, charisma and being charming were completely missing in my family.

Bruce Hayden કહ્યું...

“Is a "guy's guy" different from a "man's man””

Obama may have been a guy’s guy, but definitely not a man’s man. Yes, the beta males who supported him and hung around him might have been confused. Sophomore antics may be appropriate for…Sophomores. But not for someone in such a powerful position as POTUS. For the most part, men don’t respect men who refuse to grow up. But a lot of Democratic male politicians, and even some Republicans, refuse to grow up. Not surprising that Obama, coming out of the Senate Dem caucus never learned this.

hanuman_prodigious_leaper કહ્યું...

Can Barack Obama play against WNBA

RCOCEAN II કહ્યું...

A man's man is someone liked and admired by other men for being strong, brave, and smart. He's the sort of man who like sports, hunting and fishing and having a drink with other men. If he's in management he surrounds himself with "the best man for the job" even if that "Man" is a woman. He's focused on getting things done and not using his position to boost his ego and score with chicks.

Because a man's man doesn't let his dick control him. Bill clinton was the pefect example of a Chick man. He played the tuba not football. he was a soft tub of lard. He dodged the draft. He married a battle-ax, and surrounded himself with women and yes-men. And after he left the presidency, he spent all his time on Epstein island.

If only men had been allowed to vote, I doubt Billy bob would've gotten past Arkansas Governor.

hanuman_prodigious_leaper કહ્યું...

Obama was never a 'guy's guy'..... And wore Mom's jeans!?/

Lazarus કહ્યું...

What a "guy's guy" is like depends on what the original "guy" in the phrase is like. If guy₁ likes beer and quiet woodworking (not at the same time) guy₂ won't be the guy he would be if guy₁ likes whoring and brawling.

Lazarus કહ્યું...

A "guy's guy" is someone a guy can be himself around. A "man's man" dominates and is used to dominating and might not let you be yourself. If Teddy Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were men's men (debatable), it would be horseback rides, hikes, and hunts every morning with TR and drugs and whoring every night with JFK. No time to sit back and relax.

RCOCEAN II કહ્યું...

I thought " a guys guy" was code word for Gay. Like the old "confirmed old batchelor".

Lazarus કહ્યું...

"Girl's girl" = Member of a coven. Loyal to you so long as you are still inside the coven. Woe to you if you're outside.

Lazarus કહ્યું...

One of Abdul El Sayed's top staffers has resigned and now opposes him, complaining about a toxic macho environment. It's an indication of how "performative" (that is, fake) the whole "man's man" thing is among politicians in both their public and private lives. If the guys a president is with want to talk pŭssy, JFK or LBJ or RMN or Clinton or Bush or Obama or Biden or Trump will talk pŭssy, whether you or I think of that president as especially masculine or not.

Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...

YouTube : I'm Winston Wolf, I solve problems
If a man's man has a suit, and a guy's guy does not.
The Wolf is both.

n.n કહ્યું...
આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.
RCOCEAN II કહ્યું...

JFK, whatever his faults, won the Congressional medal of honor. Yeah, he liked sex. But he married Jackie. Loved his kids. And never let his love of sex get in his way of getting things done.

And contrast and compare: JFK - fucked Marilyn Monroe. Clinton - had "cigar sex" with Lewinsky.

n.n કહ્યું...

Brokeback telephone in trans through the modern modality. Ironically, from viability near six weeks. #HateLovesAbortion

n.n કહ્યું...

Cigar. Cigarette. Cistransgender. Liberal adjacent. A blunt choice, when you can afford it.

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