For decades I have heard this phrase and took the literal meaning. In the time of need (hour) the real man comes to the fore…
But I have also heard laughter at the phrase and assumed that the phrase was used to signify that
a real man takes a hour in the act of sex to come (ejaculate).
Is there any other explanation for the phrase? Have you ever considered my second explanation as applicable to the phrase?
If cometh in an hour, then you need to see a urologist ASAP.
Really?
Its a pre requisite for some jobs.
No
And a deal breaker for others.
The first interpretation is the root of my understanding of the phrase, except there is an element of despair/let down before the cometh-ing. Like when Bilbo is waiting for the last light of Durin’s day to do it’s thing, but it doesn’t and he’s all bummed, and then … there it is. It’s an inexorable process, tied entirely to fate.
There is nothing that cannot be turned into sniggering by the idiot class. That does not change the meaning of the original.