# Where did the "Bro" stuff come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869 "2011-12-30T20:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/1 "2011-12-30T20:14:33Z")
Recently I saw a published string of controversial [customer-service emails](http://penny-arcade.com/resources/just-wow1.html) from a marketer who was reportedly rude to his customer. The customer in revenge published them on a website to expose the behavior. The marketer used ‘bro’ (or ‘brah’) style language and comments on the internet mentioned it as being connectetd to steroid use and prickly-style hair dos. > [@](#): > > Grow up you look like a complete child bro. > [@](#): > > And civilized it was, as nothing other than facts were exposed and […] didnt go BRO BRO BRO Ok, what is this about? What is this ‘bro’ culture? I seem to remember it being connected to New Jersey somehow, but is that were it started? Why? How? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/2 "2011-12-30T20:28:53Z")
[Bro on Urban Dictionary.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bro) I think Definition 2.2 is the most accurate. > [@](#): > > 1. An alpha male idiot. This is the derogatory sense of the word (common usage in the western US): white, 16-25 years old, inarticulate, belligerent, talks about nothing but chicks and beer, drives a jacked up truck that’s plastered with stickers, has rich dad that owns a dealership or construction business and constantly tells this to chicks at parties, is into extreme sports that might be fun to do but are uncool to claim (wakeboarding, dirt biking, lacrosse), identifies excessively with brand names, spends a female amount of money on clothes and obsesses over his appearance to a degree that is not socially acceptable for a heterosexual male. The female equivalent of the Bro is the Bro Hoe. Bro Hoes are Bro groupies that hang around bros, many of whom are actually quite hot and are thus spared the scorn that is heaped on Bros. 10 is also pretty accurate. However, it associates the bro culture with colleges, which is not necessarily the case. Not all bros are in college. > [@](#): > > 18-25 year old white upper middle class males who attend universities, and are usually members of fraternities. During free time they enjoy playing sports such as ultimate frisbee, lacross, flag football, fishing, and beach volleyball. They are knowledgeable about most spectator sports and attend sporting events regularly. Bros are often actively envolved in fantasy football, and will form leagues with other bros. They enjoy attending suburban house parties and frat parties, and are skilled at most drinking games. They also have a fairly refined taste for good beer, and can afford to drink it more often than others their age, but still must resort to cheap beer at times. Bros enjoy the presence of attractive women, but are also content with simply “broing out”. Favorite clothing brands include polo, vinyard vines, jcrew, and lacoste. Shorts include brightly colored, madras, crittered, seer-suckers and the classic khakis. Footwear comprises mostly of sperry topsiders, flip flops, and asics runners. Hats with pre-frayed brims are popular, as are Costa Del Mar sunglasses with crokies. Bro bands include Dave Matthews, OAR, Incubus, Jack Johnson, Dispatch, and Sister Hazel. Bros drive SUVs and trucks, and contrary to popular belief, do not always lift them, and when they do, the lift rarely exceeds 4 inches. Upper-end colleges in the South contain the most bros. These schools include Vanderbilt, University of Virginia, Southern Methodist University, and Duke. Most SEC schools are bro, and the University of Texas and Notre Dame are also excessively bro. Bros are conservative in their political affiliation, and have a fairly strong value system, although they are often immature in their actions. Many people would consider bros racist, but they can actually tolerate well spoken or respectable blacks that attempt to assimilate into mainstream society. Certain names are more bro than others. Last names that are usually first names, such as Ryan, and last names that are verbs, such as Rush, are bro. > > Common Misconceptions: > -bros do not necessarily drive lifted trucks > > -bros are not rednecks or white trash, and they actually seek higher education, if for no other reason than that their parents can afford it. > > -FAMOUS SHIRTS ARE NOT BRO > > -Bros are not gym rats; they enjoy working out, but are not excessively big > > -Bros do not act gangster by any means, other than to mock black culture. They can, however, enjoy rap music on occasion Someone will doubtlessly be along soon to tell us that these subcultures do not exist at all, we’re just imagining them, and that you can’t generalize about people, and everyone is different, and we’re being jerks, and my best friend is a bro, etc etc. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/3 "2011-12-30T20:43:03Z")
A bro likes drinking beer with bros around a beach campfire, and will pull out his acoustic guitar if ladies are present. A bro loves going to the lake. A bro wears his baseball cap backward. Bros dig ringer t-shirts. A bro fancies himself a grill master, and will not hesitate to tell you so. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/4 "2011-12-30T20:49:03Z")
The term ‘bro’ has been around for a while. It just shorthand for ‘brother’ as in not a real one but a buddy. I don’t know much about this new use of the word and I don’t approve. We kept it real back in the day and just used the term at its most fundamental level with no complex implied meaning. It was just like, 'Pass me a brew bro" and that was that. Kids these days are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/5 "2011-12-30T20:55:08Z")
A bro’s acoustic guitar playlist always consists of: “Over the Hills and Far Away” by Led Zeppelin, “Let’s Get Drunk and Screw” by Jimmy Buffet (only if ladies are present), “Smile” by Uncle Kracker, anything by Kenny Chesney. A bro loves his dog, most likely a Golden Retriever, yellow lab or fat pug, and brings the pooch to the lake every weekend in the summer. A bro names his dogs after things he loves: Porkchop, Reagan, Duke, or his favorite college football coach (i.e. Bo or Woody). ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/6 "2011-12-30T22:00:39Z")
Curiously enough, in my family the term ‘bro’ was a codeword. If you said ‘bro’ to your brother, he knew that everything you were saying was a complete lie, as in: “Bro, I want you to meet my close friend Tom. He’s a really decent guy you can trust with your life”. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/7 "2011-12-30T22:13:54Z")
A bro puts a bandana on his dog. A bro is never afraid to express his dedication and/or love for his bros. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/8 "2011-12-30T22:18:52Z")
Don’t forget the memes: U mad bro? (or “umadbro?”) Cool story, bro. Don’t tase me, bro! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/9 "2011-12-30T22:20:07Z")
Important and relevant documentary on Bro Rape [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvTRQr7ns8). ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/10 "2011-12-31T10:08:11Z")
My first encounter with bro-culture and bromance was in online gaming. I don’t know where it originated, though. ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/11 "2011-12-31T11:32:10Z")
I live in Chicago and I hear African American’s use “Bro” but not the “brah” version of the word. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/12 "2011-12-31T15:04:10Z")
The “bro stuff” you are describing sounds basically like typical white upper middle class preppy jock/fraternity alpha male youth subculture. It shouldn’t be confused with The Jersey Shore. That’s NJ Guido culture. Although bros may adopt many of the Jersey Shore affectations as a form of irony or homage. The major distinction is that preppy jock fraternity culture doesn’t change appreciably over the years. Argent Towers’s link might have described me and my friends 15 years ago when we were in college. My girlfriend and I went to a DMB / OAR concert this past year and the people there looked like they came through a time warp. Same baseball hats and North Face vests and A&F shirts people have been wearing for 20 years. It’s not about being “edgie” (like hipsters) or drawing attention (like Guidos). It’s about being just like everyone else. I can go out any weekend in Hoboken, NJ or Murray Hill in Manhattan and watch packs of 5-6 dudes stuble into any post-college bar. They will get drunk, clumsily hit on girls until they find some former cheerleader or sorority chick who is drunk / self conscious enough to sleep with them. > [@Argent Towers](#): > > Someone will doubtlessly be along soon to tell us that these subcultures do not exist at all, we’re just imagining them, and that you can’t generalize about people, and everyone is different, and we’re being jerks, and my best friend is a bro, etc etc. Of course they exist. Given the choice, people will choose to be exactly like everyone else they know. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/13 "2011-12-31T22:18:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The “bro stuff” you are describing sounds basically like typical white upper middle class preppy jock/fraternity alpha male youth subculture. > > It shouldn’t be confused with The Jersey Shore. That’s NJ Guido culture. Although bros may adopt many of the Jersey Shore affectations as a form of irony or homage. > > The major distinction is that preppy jock fraternity culture doesn’t change appreciably over the years. Argent Towers’s link might have described me and my friends 15 years ago when we were in college. My girlfriend and I went to a DMB / OAR concert this past year and the people there looked like they came through a time warp. Same baseball hats and North Face vests and A&F shirts people have been wearing for 20 years. > > It’s not about being “edgie” (like hipsters) or drawing attention (like Guidos). It’s about being just like everyone else. I can go out any weekend in Hoboken, NJ or Murray Hill in Manhattan and watch packs of 5-6 dudes stuble into any post-college bar. They will get drunk, clumsily hit on girls until they find some former cheerleader or sorority chick who is drunk / self conscious enough to sleep with them. > > Of course they exist. Given the choice, people will choose to be exactly like everyone else they know. I think we can just cut and paste this into a submission for the Oxford English Dictionary. **msmith537** lays it out nicely as always. I have no idea what other people are referring to. It is exactly as he described. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/14 "2011-12-31T22:44:59Z")
For some reason I always associated it with surfer culture but I live way, way inland so my knowledge of surfer lore may be limited. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/15 "2012-01-02T12:55:24Z")
Speaking as an occasional Big Island resident, I always thought “brah” was Hawaiian. There are plenty of hits if you Google “Hawaiian talk brah.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/16 "2012-01-02T15:40:41Z")
I used to work with a “bro”, and he fits description #10 in **Argent’s** post to a T. He attended Dartmouth. He was very intelligent but also very much into drinking, hanging out at clubs, and talking about girls. He was not a pretty boy and tended towards the dishelved side, but he wore name-brand clothing and didn’t seem to be the type who’d go shopping at a thrift store or Target. He wasn’t inarticulate. As I said, he was very smart and I could tell he had learned a lot in school. But “bro” was his go-to word, especially when he was very emphatic about something. I think he used it mainly for comic effect. Not in an self-mocking sense, but he knew it would make whatever he said funnier. The other male coworkers began to adopt the habit, even though they were not “bro” guys. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/17 "2012-01-02T20:00:16Z")
There are “bros” like they have been described in this thread, but the way the word is being used in this case is as a condescending taunt. “Hey **pal** , mind not talking on your phone so loud?” “Nice parking job, **buddy** ” Now it’s popular to say “bro” instead. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/18 "2012-01-03T14:41:27Z")
I always thought it came of of frat culture, at least that’s who I picture when I read brah or bro. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/19 "2012-01-03T15:11:58Z")
Ironically, in my neck of the woods. The lower class (white trash) use the entire word “Brother” when talking to a close friend. But yeah. I use “Brother” all the time. And I can’t throw a ball to save my life. So, there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869/20 "2012-01-03T16:07:59Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s not about being “edgie” (like hipsters) or drawing attention (like Guidos). It’s about being just like everyone else. I can go out any weekend in Hoboken, NJ or Murray Hill in Manhattan and watch packs of 5-6 dudes stuble into any post-college bar. They will get drunk, clumsily hit on girls until they find some former cheerleader or sorority chick who is drunk / self conscious enough to sleep with them. I think of the larger classification “douchebag” as incorporating fratboys/bros, hipsters, and guidos. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-bro-stuff-come-from/607869.md?page=2)