# What are the traits of a girlyman? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584 "2005-10-10T16:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GrahamWellington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/54ee81/32.png) [@GrahamWellington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrahamWellington)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/1 "2005-10-10T16:09:52Z")
I know I’m no girlyman; but I would be curious as to what you bright and perceptive people regard as girlyman qualities. Any guesses or opinions on this? I’ll tell you one (and you can respond to it if you want) … I knew this middle-aged guy that didn’t have so much as a hair on his face or chest. And yet, when he’d come home for lunch from work, he’d quickly walk past everyone in the house and, while rubbing his chin, he’d glance at his watch and say, “Oh, I’ve got time to shave.” It was a curious thing that he would do that because, as stated, he had no beard of any kind to shave AND he’d already shaved before he went to work, a few hours earlier. He was also super prissy about making sure his shoes were all nice and shiney, too, and that his head hair was trimmed real short … and he’d often make snide remarks about other men behind their backs if, for example, they had a full beard and/or long hair. (He’d go, “tisk tisk tisk tisk … look at that girl with the long hair.”) Have any of you been around girlymen or know their ways? If so, please share with us! ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/2 "2005-10-10T17:53:17Z")
Let me be the first to take offense about the hairiness thing. 🙂 I don’t have much body hair to speak of. And I’m going bald, so I keep my head hair very short. Of course, I do have to shave every few days so my chin doesn’t look like a rat’s nest. But I’ll be damned if I’m a girly man! I just imagine that it makes me more evolved from my furry ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/3 "2005-10-10T17:55:04Z")
That would be a metrosexual, Graham. A girlyman is someone who is not (clap!) pumped up. Chief among his issues are an inability to take being kicked in the jimmy with steel boots. The need to take time off when running a temperature of over a hundred degrees. And, of course, the wearing of skirts. The wearing of skirts is not to be mistaken for the wearing of kilts. Those who wear kilts are not girlymen. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/4 "2005-10-10T18:20:57Z")
Girly men don’t own old dirty sneakers. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/5 "2005-10-10T18:30:58Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > I knew this middle-aged guy that didn’t have so much as a hair on his face or chest. \*And yet, when he’d come home for lunch from work, he’d quickly walk past everyone in the house \* and, while rubbing his chin, he’d glance at his watch and say, “Oh, I’ve got time to shave.” emphasis added. issues with the old man? That or you live(d) in a halfway house. 😉 I, myself, wonder how long it will be until someone truly takes offense at your use of the epithet “girly-man.” By girly, do you mean “girl-like,” as in effeminate but otherwise heterosexual, perhaps a dandy? Or, are you coming from the more pejorative perspective of girl = weak, such as a sissy? Just looking for clarification for those who will certainly flame this. I’d hate to see you appologize for a misunderstanding. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/6 "2005-10-10T18:33:19Z")
dad-gummit, I meant to emphasize “everyone in the house ,” not the whole darned post. perhaps that should have read over-emphasis added ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/7 "2005-10-10T18:38:14Z")
It’s not compicated. A grillyman is a guy who cooks in the backyard. This ain’t rocket surgery, Bunky. It’s just fire, food, and passion. ---
**Author:** ![Sgt.Pepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sgt.Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/8 "2005-10-10T18:45:36Z")
With regards to the fella mentioned in the op, that guy sounds more like a military man then anything else. Short hair, obsessive about being cleanly shaven, and concerned with highly shined footware. Definate traits of a militarily trained person. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/9 "2005-10-10T18:48:53Z")
> [@whole bean](#): > > I, myself, wonder how long it will be until someone truly takes offense at your use of the epithet “girly-man.” Looks like it took about 4 responses, girly. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/10 "2005-10-10T19:11:39Z")
Man, **GrahamWellington** , you’re quite a card. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/11 "2005-10-10T19:14:13Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Looks like it took about 4 responses, girly. alright, let’s take it outside :mad: wait, hold on, I gotta shave first. where are my nice new sneakers? no not those, the ones that match this skirt . . . hey, hey, no steel toed boots, and no kicking. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/12 "2005-10-10T20:25:02Z")
Where I come from - Girlymen stand out in2 ways. They squeal like a, uh, girl when confronted with adversity. They have a fear of risk that is totally out of proportion with reality. Wearing protective headgear and face mask to mow the lawn. Being obsessed with carb counts and worrying that one slice of cake = instant heart attack. Insisting on state of the line hiking boots/wicking jacket/pith helmet for a 2 mile nature walk. They use sunscreen…and reapply every 45 minutes ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/13 "2005-10-10T20:32:57Z")
Actually, it took two. ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/14 "2005-10-10T21:46:59Z")
Really soft hands kind of indicate to me that either no hard labor has been done in the past 25 years, or heavy duty moisturizer sits in the caddy with the TV remotes. Either way, it kind of makes me wonder. But then again, I am a nurse and wash my hands 100 times a day, making them appear to be the hands of a 96 year old farmer. Perhaps I am just jealous. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/15 "2005-10-11T01:15:17Z")
I knew plenty of bodybuilders and boxers who zealously watch their diets in this way (long before ‘low-carb’, it was called ‘steak and salad’). > [@Long Time First Time](#): > > (snip)Being obsessed with carb counts and worrying that one slice of cake = instant heart attack.(snip) Campaigning for presidential candidate George H.W. Bush in 1988, Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to the Democratic field as ‘girlymen’, one of whom was a Congressional Medal of Honor winner. IMO, ‘Girlyman’ in the second person has degenerated into “someone I wish to insult/belittle”. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/16 "2005-10-11T01:51:47Z")
…if you have ever drunk bottled beer from a glass. …if you have ever worn a hankey in your pocket, a bow tie you tied yourself, or a collar pin. …if you have ever pronounced the _g_ at the end of the word _fuckin’._ …if you went to college for any purpose other than athletic scholarship, ROTC or landing a big money position upon graduation. …if you would have voted for any Democratic candidate since LBJ. …if you listen to music people can’t hear any time they flip on a radio. …if you have insufficient upper body strength to whip any random barroom drunk. …if you’d just rather not get involved in any way at all. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/17 "2005-10-11T02:34:10Z")
Girlymen do not use empty beer cans as ashtrays. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/18 "2005-10-11T02:45:10Z")
Niles Crane. Now THAT’S a girlyman. ---
**Author:** ![Lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lola)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/19 "2005-10-14T05:28:26Z")
Crap, Doug. I was doing well up until the fourth one. I guess I’m a big, hairy girlyman. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584/20 "2005-10-14T08:00:37Z")
Hey **Lola** — _Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls. It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for Lola._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traits-of-a-girlyman/325584.md?page=2)