Who Knows What "Getting the Heisman" Means in the Dating Context?

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

So, after having sworn off women for two months in order to get my head straight, I worked up enough gumption to ask a certain cute blonde girl to dinner.

After receiving her response, I told my buddy about it at lunch.

HIM: "How'd it go with Katie?"
ME: "Dude, she gave me the Heisman."
HIM: --blank stare--

After explaining it to him, he understood and found it funny. But I was stunned that I had to explain it to him at all.

I therefore put it to you all-

Are you familiar with this phrase? If so, what does it mean to you?

[Duckster]

heisman

Noun: A rejection given to a member of the opposite sex, a job, or anything no longer wanted. Named after the Heisman trophy, which depicts a football player giving a stiff-arm block to a tackle.

When his girlfriend started getting serious, he gave her the Heisman.

Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=heisman

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

Well, yah, but the question was-

How many of you know what it is without looking it up?

I was told that I was "dating myself" by using a metaphor nobody currently uses/understands.

I'm trying to get a sense of whether or not that's the case.

[Duckster]

Originally Posted by Happy Scrappy Hero Pup

Well, yah, but the question was-
How many of you know what it is without looking it up?.

No, the question was ...

Originally Posted by Happy Scrappy Hero Pup

Are you familiar with this phrase? If so, what does it mean to you?

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

Touche.

[Illinois_Boy]

Originally Posted by Happy Scrappy Hero Pup

I was told that I was "dating myself" by using a metaphor nobody currently uses/understands.

I'm trying to get a sense of whether or not that's the case.

Afraid I've never heard it.

And unfortunately, you'll probably be "dating yourself" until someone does not give you the Heisman.

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

Originally Posted by Illinois_Boy

And unfortunately, you'll probably be "dating yourself" until someone does not give you the Heisman.

Thanks, dude. Kick a guy when he's down, why don'tcha?


Keep your fingers crossed for a pleasant outcome when your man Scrappy asks a certain 6'1" swimmer to a function he's got this Thursday.

[Cat Whisperer]

I thought it was that football player who broke his leg so badly that his thigh bone was sticking out. Which would still be a bad thing to get when asking a woman out.

(Doing a little Googling, I was closer than I have any right to be for a football metaphor. Joe Theisman leg break video. I didn't watch it, because I don't want to see a guy breaking his leg so badly that the thigh bone sticks out.)

Good luck with the swimmer, Scrappy! Hope she doesn't give you the Theisman.

[Amp]

From the Urban Dictionary:

heisman

Noun: A rejection given to a member of the opposite sex, a job, or anything no longer wanted. Named after the Heisman trophy, which depicts a football player giving a stiff-arm block to a tackle.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=heisman

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

I knew about it because the guys on the rugby team used to use it. When anyone looked quizzical, they'd do a perfect imitation of the statue, with the addition of a facial expression of "GOD NO" and it cleared up any confusion.

This was the early 1990s. I thought it was funny then and still do.

Then again, jokes have an embarrassingly long shelf life with me. "1920s-style death ray" still busts me up.

[Snooooopy]

I had never heard it before.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan

I knew about it because the guys on the rugby team used to use it. When anyone looked quizzical, they'd do a perfect imitation of the statue, with the addition of a facial expression of "GOD NO" and it cleared up any confusion.

This was the early 1990s. I thought it was funny then and still do.

Then again, jokes have an embarrassingly long shelf life with me. "1920s-style death ray" still busts me up.

In your/our neck of the woods, you could even say that they "struck a Desmond".

[Rhiannon8404]

Wow! I'm surprise at all the posters who have never heard it. I am totally familiar with the phrase, "He/She gave me the Heisman" although I've never had to use it.

[Sunspace]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon8404

Wow! I'm surprise at all the posters who have never heard it. I am totally familiar with the phrase, "He/She gave me the Heisman" although I've never had to use it.

I think knowledge of the expression might be correlated with knowledge of US (college?) football. Hence, all us foreigners and non-sporty geek types are (or were, until this thread) blissfully ignorant of it. The expression, that is.

[Patty O'Furniture]

Never heard of it.

[Misnomer]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon8404

Wow! I'm surprise at all the posters who have never heard it.

Same here! It's not a phrase that I hear very often, but often enough that I don't feel like it's horribly outdated or anything. I'm 35, and would expect most people my age to have heard it at least once before.

Originally Posted by Sunspace

I think knowledge of the expression might be correlated with knowledge of US (college?) football.

No doubt that's how it got started, and I'd expect it to be less known outside the U.S., but I don't like football, I don't know anything about it, the college I went to didn't have a team, and I've never seen the trophy in question -- yet, I've known the expression for years.

[Evil Captor]

Never heard of it.

[kittenblue]

Never, ever heard it before.

[Eureka]

Never heard of it.

[ParentalAdvisory]

Never heard of it, then again, never really dated either.

[athelas]

Originally Posted by ParentalAdvisory

Never heard of it, then again, never really dated either.

Ditto

[Gozu Tashoya]

Knew it, never needed it explained to me, and it amuses me greatly to this day.

[Hypno-Toad]

Never heard it. Been subject to it, but never heard the term.

[lavenderviolet]

Yeah, you would have had to explain it to me too. I don't know off the top of my head what the Heisman trophy looks like since I'm completely non-sporty. However, now that I understand it, it *is* funny. Sorry to hear things went that way for ya though.

[Fionn]

I can't recall ever having heard the term, but I guessed what it meant as soon as I pictured the Heisman trophy.

[Tomcat]

Knew it, and use it. I actually thought that the more recent "Talk to the hand!" came from it.

-Tcat

[CanvasShoes]

Ditto. I'd never heard of it either.

[StuffLikeThatThere]

Like Fionn, I had never heard it, but figured it out. I think it's funny. Continue to use it whether it dates you or not!

[Marley23]

Never heard of it before, but I figured out what it meant from the OP's dialogue.

[HazelNutCoffee]

Never heard of it. Never heard of the trophy, either. (Then again, I spent the past 11 years in Korea. There we just say "Dude, I've been kicked.")

[AngelicGemma]

Never heard of it.

[Antigen]

Never heard the term, and had no clue till I looked it up. But then, I've never seen the Heisman trophy, either.

[Queen Tonya]

I'd have made some non-committal murmers and googled asap to figure out what you meant, which has to rank slightly better than the blank stare your buddy went with.

[jjimm]

Nor I.

[Freudian_Slip]

Never heard that one and didn't get it (until reading the definition and seeing the trophy).

Not being a football fan, I only vaguely knew that the Heisman trophy is football related (and really don't know why/where it's awarded), so it'd be more of a "whoosh" for me.

[Nars Glinley]

Never heard of it. And I would have guessed that it would have been a good thing since every college football player dreams of winning it.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by KRM

Never heard of it. And I would have guessed that it would have been a good thing since every college football player dreams of winning it.

Ditto.

[FatBaldGuy]

Also never heard of it. For those who haven't seen it,

Heisman Trophy

[Anaamika]

I have never ever heard it. But I didn't date a lot, either.

[mazinger_z]

There are times when I'm amazed by the SDMB, and there are times when I am saddened. This is one of those latter times.

I love this phrase and use it to kick my friends when they are down (it gets said a lot when we are at bars). We all go through it. That's what friends are for. It feels great for a guy to do it, but we guys tend not to be as stiff as the women.

[OneCentStamp]

I'd never heard it before, but I understood what it meant as soon as I read the thread title. Funny stuff.

[pravnik]

I've never heard it, but I understood what the guy meant right away, and that "getting the Heisman" must mean "getting the stiffarm." For that matter, I have heard "getting the stiffarm" quite a bit.

From others, I mean.

[Antinor01]

I'm 31 and had never heard the term before this thread. I also had only the vaguest idea that Heisman was something sports related, but that didn't help at all in trying to figure out what the term meant.

[jacob wrestling]

I've heard it used a couple of times and know what it means (without looking it up). I'm 22.

By the way, sorry the cute blonde girl gave you the Heisman.

[Carl Corey]

Hmmm. I would have guessed that it meant somebody who was a good kisser, but a lousy lay.

This is because many Heisman winners suck when they reach the pros.

But your definition makes more sense.

[Paul in Qatar]

Never heard of it.

[Caffeine.addict]

I've heard it, although it has been a few years.

[Gozu Tashoya]

Originally Posted by Carl Corey

Hmmm. I would have guessed that it meant somebody who was a good kisser, but a lousy lay.

This is because many Heisman winners suck when they reach the pros.

But your definition makes more sense.

Yeah, but yours is more amusing. If you start an, ahem, Heisman campaign to officially change the definition, I'll vote for yours.

[Archergal]

Never heard of it, not sure if I would have guessed what it means. (I kinda know what the Heisman trophy looks like, but I really have to think about it.)

[ElvisL1ves]

Never heard it before, but understood it right away.