suntlacrimae

I am really, really tired of the phrase "man up." The last two times I heard it used, the "man" was bragging about how he "manned up" by (1) getting a little strip of his leg hair waxed, and (2) riding on a zipline, complete with absurd amounts of safety equipment, after several women had already done the same thing in front of him. So, as far as I can tell, "manning up" means "finally working up the guts to do what women can do." But, alas, no. To "man up" is to prove one has "balls"; it is a way for boys to congratulate themselves for their courage (which is generally a product of testosterone rather than character in these cases . . . I mean, seriously . . . think about the last time you heard the phrase . . . the dude was trying to impress a girl or not lose face with his fellow dudes, right?)

I propose that we change the meaning. I think "man up" should now be synonymous with "fuck up." Think about how much sense it makes. "Baby, I really manned up. I'm so, so sorry. Here are some flowers." Or, "Joe tried to crush a beer can on his head last night and ended up splitting his eyebrow open" "Ouch, talk about manning up." Note how heavy sarcasm would only enhance the new, proper usage of the phrase.