# Man, Boy, Brother (as intensifiers/exclamations) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365 "2017-05-11T15:46:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/1 "2017-05-11T15:46:41Z")
These are all used this way. “Man, was I thirsty …”, “Boy was I tired …”. Or in the case of “brother” more of an exclamation of frustration. “Oh, brother!” I don’t think there’s anything similar on the female side. I wonder what the origin of this is (and whether there’s anything similar in foreign languages). ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/2 "2017-05-11T15:56:43Z")
“Girlfriend, why you trippin’?!” “You go, Girl!” ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/3 "2017-05-11T15:58:38Z")
No connection. In those cases an actual girl is being addressed and referred to. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/4 "2017-05-11T16:01:54Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > No connection. In those cases an actual girl is being addressed and referred to. I say this to my gay best friend all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/5 "2017-05-11T16:04:33Z")
I assume you’re jokingly referring to him as “girl” or “girlfriend”. If not, then you’re an outlier. The meaning of “girl” and “girlfriend” in those phrases, as commonly used, refers to the person being addressed. In the examples I gave, the terms don’t refer to any person, and have no particular meaning at all other than as intensifiers/exclamations. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/6 "2017-05-11T16:11:09Z")
I do say it jokingly and I concede your point - I can’t think of any such examples in the other two languages with which I’m familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/7 "2017-05-11T16:16:00Z")
Do people who do not have brothers say oh brother when they’re frustrated? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/8 "2017-05-11T16:45:16Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > Do people who do not have brothers say oh brother when they’re frustrated? Dude! ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/9 "2017-05-11T16:58:22Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > These are all used this way. “Man, was I thirsty …”, “Boy was I tired …”. Or in the case of “brother” more of an exclamation of frustration. “Oh, brother!” In each of your examples, you could replace the male word with “God” and it would make just as much sense: “God, was I thirsty …”, “God was I tired …”, “Oh, God!” That makes me think that they may be [Minced Oaths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/10 "2017-05-11T18:38:45Z")
You could also replace it with “Fuck” or “shit”, so the use of brother, man and boy, could just be cleaned up swearing. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-boy-brother-as-intensifiers-exclamations/786365/11 "2017-05-11T20:42:22Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > You could also replace it with “Fuck” or “shit”, so the use of brother, man and boy, could just be cleaned up swearing. That’s what minced oaths are.