He's a "man's man"

How I detest the phrase, "a man's man." Ugh. I gag when I hear people use it. What on Earth does it mean?

The other day, I heard a guy on TV say that the players on the Cardinals baseball team respect Mike Metheny, the Cardinals' manager, because he's a "man's man". Ugh. There goes my involuntary gag reflex again.

Last winter, I thought I had witnessed the death of this phrase while watching a tattoo "reality" show. The artist said he had to do a really good cover-up job on a guy's rather feminine tattoo because the customer was a "dude's dude". Right there, I thought the phrase was over and done with. I mean, how could it survive that? Alas, it's still around.

What do you think straight men mean when they call a guy a "man's man"? I've thought long and hard about this and I think it means "wow, that guy is really sexy!" Isn't that it? I mean, I'm gay and I think Mike Metheny is the sexiest guy in baseball. Srsly. So, is that what straight guys mean, too? I think it is.

But maybe I'm wrong. You tell me. What do they really mean?

Drawing room

This morning I encountered the term "drawing room" in an article, and for the first time wondered where this came from. Luckily, there is such a thing as Wikipedia (to which I'd leave most of my money, if I had any). Here's the scoop:

In a large sixteenth- to early eighteenth-century English house, a withdrawing room was a room to which the owner of the house, his wife, or a distinguished guest who was occupying one of the main apartments in the house could "withdraw" for more privacy.

And then it was shortened with the passage of time, as many things are. Seriously, what would we do without Wikipedia? Change your will today to add Wikipedia as a beneficiary.