# Mansplaining to others how people get the gay - Am I doing it right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansplaining-to-others-how-people-get-the-gay-am-i-doing-it-right/724056 "2015-07-02T16:16:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansplaining-to-others-how-people-get-the-gay-am-i-doing-it-right/724056/41 "2015-07-05T19:48:38Z")
You’re using “mansplaining” wrong, as others have pointed out. [Original meaning](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=mansplaining&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8): (_of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing. “I’m listening to a guy mansplain economics to his wife”_ From the [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mansplaining): \*Originally, this term was used to describe boorish men who felt the need to “correct” what a woman said, even on topics that the man didn’t know anything about. However, the term quickly degenerated into a get-out-of-jail-free card used by angry women when a man dares to point out even the most blatant error. Old: That Bob is trying to tell Jill how to raise a horse? She’s raised championship thoroughbreds for decades and he’s never even ridden a horse. What a stupid mansplainer! New: OF COURSE HAMSTERS KNOW HOW TO SPEAK IN RUSSIAN! STOP MANSPLAINING!\* You’re using it to mean “men are stupid. How do I explain things to them in a way they’ll understand.” Which is particularly ironic, since you yourself say the thing you’re trying explain is something you don’t really understand yourself. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansplaining-to-others-how-people-get-the-gay-am-i-doing-it-right/724056/42 "2015-07-05T20:12:54Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > You’re using it to mean “men are stupid. How do I explain things to them in a way they’ll understand.” Which is particularly ironic, since you yourself say the thing you’re trying explain is something you don’t really understand yourself. Actually the[wiki on mansplaining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansplaining) I sought out after being confronted on it’s usage was quite interesting. That little word had come a long way, was older than I thought and is actually [in the dictionary now.](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/mansplain) > [@](#): > > The neologism[5] showed up simultaneously in multiple places, so its origin is difficult to establish.[5] In an opinion piece entitled “Men who explain things”, Solnit relates an anecdote about a man at a party who mentioned to a woman that he had heard she had written some books and she replied by talking about her most recent book on Eadweard Muybridge whereupon he cut her off and asked if she had “heard about the very important Muybridge book that came out this year”, not even considering that it might be her book.[6] The word soon became popular among feminist bloggers and then in mainstream cultural commentary.[3][5] It was selected for New York Times '​ 2010 word of the year list;[5] nominated for American Dialect Society’s most creative word of the year in 2012;[2] added to the online Oxford Dictionaries in 2014;[7] and engendered parallel constructions such as whitesplaining and rightsplaining.[8] As the word has become more popular, some commentators have complained that its misappropriation, overuse, and overly broad use have in some instances diluted its original meaning and made its sometimes inflammatory use counterproductive and a way of discrediting an opponent’s arguments without confronting them directly.[9] ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansplaining-to-others-how-people-get-the-gay-am-i-doing-it-right/724056/43 "2015-07-05T20:17:13Z")
Looks like mansplaining is going the way of “thug”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mansplaining-to-others-how-people-get-the-gay-am-i-doing-it-right/724056.md?page=2)