# mano a mano **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077 "2006-01-09T00:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![restifo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3bc359/32.png) [@restifo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/restifo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/1 "2006-01-09T00:43:20Z")
In your discussion in 1996 of “mano a mano,” why did you not comment that the usual misunderstanding (for those who at least spell it right) is that it means “man to man”? jvr ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/2 "2006-01-09T01:28:11Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, **restifo**. When you discuss one of Cecil’s columns, it’s helpful to post a link. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_164.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_164.html) It helps us to follow along. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/3 "2006-01-09T01:43:45Z")
> [@restifo](#): > > In your discussion in 1996 of “mano a mano,” why did you not comment that the usual misunderstanding (for those who at least spell it right) is that it means “man to man”? jvr Possible reasons Cecil did not address that: (a) Because the person asking the question had already gone past that point so why revisit it (b) To avoid further vectoring the misconception (c) Because, brace yourselves, it may well be the misunderstanding is _ **NOT** _ quite that “usual”. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/4 "2006-01-09T01:54:00Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (c) Because, brace yourselves, it may well be the misunderstanding is _ **NOT** _ quite that “usual”. It’s usual enough, snarking aside. As an example of how common, there’s the joking variation of saying “mano a womano” when one of the combatants is (duh) female. [Google gives 629 hits on the phrase “mano a womano”](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22mano+a+womano%22&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official) as an indirect test of whether people consider the phrase to imply gender. If a variation sporting an obvious gender tipoff gives 629 hits, there’s a fair shot that “mano a mano” is mistakenly considered by some to translate to “man to man.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/5 "2006-01-09T02:53:09Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > It’s usual enough, snarking aside. > > As an example of how common, there’s the joking variation of saying “mano a womano” when one of the combatants is (duh) female. [Google gives 629 hits on the phrase “mano a womano”](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22mano+a+womano%22&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official) as an indirect test of whether people consider the phrase to imply gender. If a variation sporting an obvious gender tipoff gives 629 hits, there’s a fair shot that “mano a mano” is mistakenly considered by some to translate to “man to man.” Is it a proper misunderstanding, or merely an habitual joke? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/6 "2006-01-09T03:31:04Z")
> [@restifo](#): > > In your discussion in 1996 of “mano a mano,” why did you not comment that the usual misunderstanding (for those who at least spell it right) is that it means “man to man”? jvr Even those who are almost entirely ignorant of Spanish usually know that _hombre_ means “man” - it’s used frequently enough in western movies and TV shows, and returns over 1,800,000 hits (English-only pages) on Google. I would be surprised if it was actually that frequent a misunderstanding, except for the terminally language-challenged. Cecil also did not bother to comment on the actual translation of _mono e mono_, which means “monkey to monkey” (or at least, _mono a mono_ would). ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077/7 "2006-01-12T19:06:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Cecil also did not bother to comment on the actual translation of _mono e mono_, which means “monkey to monkey” (or at least, _mono a mono_ would). …and a quick search on “_mono a womano_” nets 3,820 hits, some of which are _not_ porn. Also, in general use, man-to-man is roughly the same as one-to-one (gender bias aside).