No overalls at the bar
My aunt is more of a real man than I’ll ever be.
Real men – they are the ones who can use lathes, fix cars, cut down trees with axes, survive in the rugged out-doors and can communicate with a stare. They can down endless pints without getting drunk and they can carry off checked shirts without looking gay.
I, meanwhile, am good with computers, read books and jabber away constantly to anyone within earshot. I cannot replace engine parts and my lifespan in an out-doors situation is entirely dependant upon what little knowledge I have from watching Ray Mears on the television.
My aunt however, is very comfortable in the out-doors, she has cut down trees with an axe and more than that she is the only woman in England licensed to net salmon… and just to rub it in some more, she’s also a coastguard.
And that is why she could probably walk into a working mens’ club without feeling a little ashamed. Here in the North we still have them, and they look a little like this:
There are still clubs with signs saying such things as ‘overalls must not be worn at the bar’.
As things progress and we move from mechanical to technical and petrol to electrical, these are the last remaining islands of real men in the UK, the dingy little sheds with awkward carpet and very cheep beer, soon they’ll be gone, and I can stop feeling like such a wimp.
I have honestly nothing to say. I just want to post a comment to prove i’m still around. Is that necessary? Probably not. Am I doing it anyway? Yes.
Oh, and by the way….I claim this strip’s comment-posting virginity! Mwahahaha.
Just as I thought, Adam, based on your definition I am not a real man. Does that make me a fake man? Or perhaps some sort of alien? More analysis is required.
I can do all those things, including the computer stuff, except wear a checked flannel shirt and not look gay.
So now I am confused about my manly status.
The mess at the camp I just left has a sign on the door that says, “boots must not be worn”, “no dirty work clothes”, etc.
Workers clubs here are generally just union dives, where union members can go and whinge collectively about how much they hate their bosses, whilst not doing anything to make themselves bosses.
I guess a working man’s club would be like the Elk’s Club, whereas a man’s club might be something more like Babylon’s.
I guess I’m pretty manly? Darn…
I had a sudden, horrible thought. By this definition, Adam, is any man that does not comply become a metrosexual? Because you know, I don’t mind the whole wearing checked shirts and moisturising your hands, that’s all okay, but the word “metrosexual” is really hard to use in a sentence.
*Dissappears off on a random tangent* Does anyone else find the word lesbian really fun to say? I wish I knew some gay girls, partly so I could finally find a girlfriend, and mostly so I would finally have an excuse to regularly say “lesbanims”. It’s so fun. And yes, I stole that variation from Friends. I feel shame.
*Dissappears further* And does anyone else think that there should be cool names for the other sexualities as well? All we gots is “straight” for hetrosexuals, “gay” for homoesexuals, “lesbian”, of course for female homoesexuals, and “lazy gay”/”greedy hetro” for bisexuals. There are two problems with this. One, I am so not greedy. Lazy, maybe, greedy, no. And two, the rest of us want awesome names too! Surely straight people find it really boring to be stuck on the “straight” and narrow all the time?
Does anyone else understand/agree with/disagree with what I’m saying?
Please excuse me. I spelt homosexual wrong, twice, and end of the first sentence of that post is totally grammatically incorrect. I’m sorry. I do read these comments through before I post them, but I guess it’s not enough!
that carpet is making me feel dizzy