# Please decipher this saying on a t-shirt **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [June 11, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737 "2024-06-11T14:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/21 "2024-06-11T16:44:58Z")
“Get in the ring” “The gloves come off” “Pistols at noon” “Come at me, bro” “Do something” They all mean fight. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Sonya Deville, a woman wrestler used the catch-phrase “Put your hair up and square up”. _taps Sonya on shoulder_ “Put **up** your hair.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/22 "2024-06-11T16:50:27Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > _taps Sonya on shoulder_ “Put **up** your hair.” _Sonya taps you really hard on your face causing blood to gush as you hit the floor_ ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/23 "2024-06-11T16:54:31Z")
Perhaps it was about Square Dancing. Were boots involved with the shirt? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/24 "2024-06-11T17:00:20Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > To me, “square up” brings thoughts of settling a debt or paying one’s fair share. Still doesn’t make sense in the context of the sentence, though. This is the primary meaning I take the term ‘square up’ to mean. When I read the OP saying “I Love My Wife but sometimes I want to square up.”, though the meaning doesn’t quite fit, I took it as “I love my wife but sometimes I want to _ **trade** _ up”. Meaning, trade her in for a newer model, maybe with easier handling. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/25 "2024-06-11T18:24:33Z")
Sounds weird to me. Maybe it started as one of those, \_\_\_\_ do it in the \_\_\_ sayings. Or it originally had a carpenter’s square on it and that part got dropped? A visual pun in other words. Googling it though, led me down a rabbit hole. “I love my wife’s butt…” - OK, I get that but, “I love my wife, my country and getting pegged” (complete with an American Flag and a bald eagle, left me a little confused. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/26 "2024-06-11T18:40:15Z")
Trade up makes sense, but it would be a brave Walmartian to wear such an atrocity in public. I’m glad I’m not the only one puzzled by this dopey saying. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/27 "2024-06-11T19:14:27Z")
When I read your original post, I immediately thought of these guys. [![](http://www.theoldrobots.com/images61/RockEm-70.JPG) ](http://www.theoldrobots.com/images61/RockEm-70.JPG) square up - to turn so that one is facing something or someone directly, head-on, shoulders square ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/28 "2024-06-11T22:25:09Z")
I mean…I guess the sentiment makes sense in a way (for some people) but it’s not clever nor even remotely funny. Why would you put it on a t-shirt? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/29 "2024-06-11T22:38:07Z")
There’s a subgroup that is proudly violent, even it’s often for display only. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/30 "2024-06-12T01:05:38Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > why would you? Perhaps it explains why they don’t get along. I don’t think my wife would appreciate such a shirt I see someone is unfamiliar with the “Wife bad!” school of Boomer humor. > **[The old ball and chain: why do Boomers hate their wives? - Honi Soit](https://honisoit.com/2023/08/the-old-ball-and-chain-why-do-boomers-hate-their-wives/)** > > We don’t bat an eye when men say they hate their wives, and in fact, we sometimes expect them to do so. How are these roles – the nagging wife and hen-pecked husband – so ingrained in our culture? And why do we find them funny? > **[Dear baby boomers, your jokes are one of the reasons I’m not married yet](https://clavien.medium.com/dear-baby-boomers-your-jokes-are-the-reason-i-am-not-married-d1e02cf465f6)** > > The negative jokes about married life commonly thrown around by long term married baby boomers are quite frankly, depressing and… ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/31 "2024-06-12T01:08:46Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I see someone is unfamiliar with the “Wife bad!” school of Boomer humor This boomer is grateful every day for my wife. I would never joke about physical fights between us. I don’t even like to argue with her. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/32 "2024-06-12T01:20:37Z")
Mazel tov! It is, however, something Millennials and Gen Z have taken notice of in recent years - a lot of Boomer jokes, both amateur and from professional comedians, seem to revolve around older men hating their wives to the point where we wonder if they even wanted to get married in the first place. Just google “Boomer humor” or “wife bad” and you’ll find plenty of examples. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/33 "2024-06-12T01:42:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > > What’s hard to get? “I love my wife, but sometimes I want to fight her.” > > Closer to “I love my wife, but sometimes I want to punch her.” Squaring up or squaring off against someone means physically fighting, not verbally. This. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > To me, “square up” brings thoughts of settling a debt or paying one’s fair share. Still doesn’t make sense in the context of the sentence, though. I guess we really can say “forget about it; it’s Chinatown”. That is a _different_ and totally legit definition of “square up.” But from the rest of the context, the meaning intended is the one @Chefguy posits, not this one. IMO YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/34 "2024-06-12T19:39:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > > > > > Just Redneck English. I understood it. > > > > I was unfamiliar with the phrase “square up,” at least in that context. I thought it meant to make things even, either literally (as in aligning the corners of a stack of paper) or figuratively (as in paying a debt). - > > The phrase is “square off” in terms of preparing to fight a person. Engrish as pointed out by @Thudlow_Boink . My first thought was that it was composed by a non-native speaker of English who REALLY fucked up an attempt to communicate the concept of “trade up.” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/35 "2024-06-13T15:07:01Z")
I always thought it (I hate my wife humor) stemmed from the wish of men to be ‘free’ of their aging nagging wives who may have gained weight, don’t want sex any more, and aren’t ‘hot’ any more. Accounting for their deep envy and respect of Hugh Hefner and Playboy, where there are no old harrridans in curlers and ratty robes but an endless supply of ‘hot’ new better looking meat. And there they are, stuck mowing the lawn, stuck with their boring old spouses and obnoxious demanding kids. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/36 "2024-06-13T15:30:17Z")
Roseanne Barr, Joan Rivers, and Phyllis Diller built careers making fun of their husbands, so it was not completely one-sided. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/37 "2024-06-13T15:37:22Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It is, however, something Millennials and Gen Z have taken notice of in recent years - a lot of Boomer jokes, both amateur and from professional comedians, seem to revolve around older men hating their wives to the point where we wonder if they even wanted to get married in the first place. Millenials and Gen Zs just haven’t been married long enough to appreciate the humor. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/38 "2024-06-13T15:44:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I see someone is unfamiliar with the “Wife bad!” school of Boomer humor. Us tweeners were taught that. First with Ralph Kramden, then his “son” Fred Flintstone. Husbands were always afraid of getting bonked on the head with a rolling pin. Taught me everything I know about relationships. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/39 "2024-06-13T16:08:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It is, however, something Millennials and Gen Z have taken notice of in recent years - a lot of Boomer jokes, both amateur and from professional comedians, seem to revolve around older men hating their wives to the point where we wonder if they even wanted to get married in the first place. I’m not sure where the line is between this, and more generally all humor involving complaining about or expressing animosity towards one’s spouse (or significant other), which is probably as old as marriage and/or humor itself. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737/40 "2024-06-13T19:54:21Z")
His “son” Fred Flintstone…love that. 😁 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-decipher-this-saying-on-a-t-shirt/1002737.md?page=3)