# I cannot believe you are actually making a 37 year old man on a business trip kick your ass. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 16, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625 "2010-05-16T09:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/121 "2010-05-17T22:47:20Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > …Apparently, you have never been in a situation when laughing in Asshole’s face results in his becoming enraged at the slight on his “manhood”… If it enrages him, too bad. The point is that you don’t respond to mere words or gestures with violence. If the other guy loses it and starts swinging, THEN it’s ok to defend yourself with whatever amount of force is needed. Whether or not it’s ok to taunt someone who clearly has problems with self-control, in order to entice them to get violent, and therefor kick their ass in self-defense, well, that’s another thread. Oh, and whether laughing at them is taunting them is still ANOTHER thread. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/122 "2010-05-17T22:51:19Z")
Gotta love the SDMB. Some dude nakes a post about his courageous struggle with a strange illness or injury, and the SDMB laps it up. Another dude says he’s physically attractive or makes one dollar over the national median and everyone calls him a liar and a bragging douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/123 "2010-05-17T22:54:43Z")
Gotta love the **Rand Rover**. People should care more about his solid gold commode and sympathy is for pussies. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/124 "2010-05-17T23:19:25Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Gotta love the SDMB. Some dude nakes a post about his courageous struggle with a strange illness or injury, and the SDMB laps it up. Another dude says he’s physically attractive or makes one dollar over the national median and everyone calls him a liar and a bragging douchebag. Yeah. Um… what’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/125 "2010-05-17T23:26:30Z")
Just a disclaimer. I wasn’t there, I don’t know the OP, I don’t know the youngun he pushed, I don’t know the young ladies. So let me tell you what really happened Two guys got in a douchebag contest at a bar, one guy lost. Story at never. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/126 "2010-05-17T23:52:38Z")
The point is that you believe sad-sack stories but not the opposite (uh, happy-sack?). ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/127 "2010-05-18T00:22:37Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > The point is that you believe sad-sack stories but not the opposite (uh, happy-sack?). If he’s not telling the truth he’s a lying, bragging douchebag, otherwise he’s just a bragging douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/128 "2010-05-18T01:24:24Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Something unusual and exciting happened and he wanted to vent. You guys are pissed at him because he didn’t act like the milquetoast spineless losers you undoubtedly would have acted like in the same situation. Not true. Curling into the fetal position and letting someone kick you in the back until they hurt their knee takes guts. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/129 "2010-05-18T01:33:01Z")
This one time I fuckin punched a guy, and he didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/130 "2010-05-18T01:38:05Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > The point is that you believe sad-sack stories but not the opposite (uh, happy-sack?). That’s actually got a lot of validity to it. I haven’t been sure throughout this whole thread why people were lining up to give **msmith** a hard time - given that the encounter and his OP were both alcohol-fueled, this fits in with his board personality just fine, and I don’t doubt it happened pretty much as he said (well, the “two guys got into a douchebag contest” sounds right on the money). ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/131 "2010-05-18T01:42:58Z")
But in an OP that’s about who’s the bigger douchebag why did the winning douchebag just happpen to fighting off all that vejayjay??? Huh??? What do douchebags and vejayjays have to do with each other!!! ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/132 "2010-05-18T01:56:48Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > \ > It can be. Depends on what you choose to do when Asshole takes it as an indication of your being chicken. Oh, for fuck’s sake. You sound like Jim Stark in **Rebel Without a Cause**. “Is that meaning me? _Is that meaning me?_” ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/133 "2010-05-18T02:18:23Z")
I think you/ **msmith** deserve(s) a little more credit. -I can believe chicks dig him now more than 15 years ago. And his being pleasantly surprised by it. -He travels around on business trips and hangs out in hotels. Half the wankers in this thread live with their mom. -Piss him off and he’ll get violent, take your women, then gloat about it. He may or may not bang one or more of them, depending on how drunk/faithful he’s feeling. People don’t like it, but it was fun for _him_. He got in touch with his inner chest-pounding gorilla! 🆒 No really! I know the OP never takes me seriously when I recommend yoga, but I think it could be positive. You could get that [Tarzan feeling](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NL7nP61-hk) without risking unknowingly shoving the '08 NJ bantam weight champion or something. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/134 "2010-05-18T02:24:20Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Two guys got in a douchebag contest at a bar, one guy lost. Story at never. Pithy. I like the way you take the pith. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/135 "2010-05-18T02:27:56Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > He travels around on business trips and hangs out in hotels. Half the wankers in this thread live with their mom. My mother-in-law lives with me. That’s not the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/136 "2010-05-18T03:14:41Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > No doubt, but–no offense–do you have any basis for knowing the difference? > > You [made clear](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=560291) that your cultural background involves liberal use of profanity, and that nobody thinks much of it. So I’d say you Aussies _are_ disarmed in the sense I meant. Other Aussies will hardly notice, and you may startle or offend some Americans by your casual profanity without intending to. Either way, your ability to make specific emphasis is reduced. Unlike the guy who dubbed 1970s Hong Kong Action Movies, I have inflection and tone in my voice. So, I (or any other person, in fact) can say “This is fucking bullshit” and have it mean no more than “I disagree with this event, result, or outcome, but really, it’s not worth getting all that worked up over in any meaningful sense”- say, for example, when I walk into work and there’s five pallets of stock to put out because the usual stock guy is off sick- or I can say “This is **FUCKING BULLSHIT!** ” which can be interpreted to mean “I am extremely displeased and implore you to do something to fix the problem that has led to this exclamation”. Or, to put it another way, no, my ability to make specific emphasis is in no way reduced by having an arsenal of swear-words on speed-dial if needs be. And why should I be worried about startling or offending Americans with my casual profanity anyway? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/137 "2010-05-18T03:16:01Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > This one time I fuckin punched a guy, and he didn’t like it. Really? Tell me more. I, as a chick, “dig” this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/138 "2010-05-18T03:22:23Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Really? Tell me more. I, as a chick, “dig” this sort of thing. Well, not to brag or anything, but I’m easily one of the 500 million strongest persons on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/139 "2010-05-18T03:23:40Z")
I don’t mind a little macho bragging, but this is the part that says “douchebag” to me: > [@msmith537](#): > > Turns out this guy was all talk and just stands there making snide comments so I make a point of talking to the girls in his group (who are now even more interested in me) just long enough to give him the opportunity to retaliate if he so desires. I admit that my own experience of bar-brawling is very limited, but ISTM that if you just shoved somebody who hadn’t laid a hand on you, and you genuinely want to avoid further trouble if possible, you would immediately pick up your drink and go elsewhere. Deliberately offering further provocation to the guy you just shoved, by making a point of talking to his female companions whom he didn’t like you talking to in the first place, comes across as being an asshole who’s spoiling for a fight. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/140 "2010-05-18T03:31:02Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If it enrages him, too bad. The point is that you don’t respond to mere words or gestures with violence. Yup - so? I didn’t say anything about violence. > [@](#): > > Oh, and whether laughing at them is taunting them is still ANOTHER thread. Why? Doesn’t seem to be that off topic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625.md?page=8)