Monday, January 11, 2016

Brospeak as a Form of Discourse

There's a form of pidgin language that has been recently observed lately: a form of verbal exchange that takes place among alpha-aspirant males in their discourse as a group.

Some call it brospeak. It occurs particularly when males are in a public setting and might be also thought of as an attention-getting ploy. To illustrate, it rarely uses personal names; but refers to people as dudes or chicks. Some words like party convey a variety of meanings, as:

"That dude is going to party with that chick."

What partying entails is alluded to; it can include anything from spending time at a conventional party (drinks, dancing, and conversation) to "doing the dirty deed." (If pressed to elaborate.)

The brospeaker may use certain intensifiers to elevate status, as "cool dude" and
hot chick."  Or for a really beauteous woman, "smokin' hot."

Brospeak invariably is liberally sprinkled with profanities, and not the minor ones. I'm talking F-bombs and M-F-bombs, if things get heated.

And one-upmanship in boasting is common in parlance:

"This ain't my first rodeo, y'know."
"I didn't just fall off a turnip truck."

And there's the frank appraisal of nearby women. I heard this charming dialogue:

"Check out that chick over there. Does she rock you?"
"Naw. She's light on the boobage and probably not likely to play."
"Yesss . . . . she looks like a real self-anointed princess."

Lots of physical interactions, in the form of knuckle-bumping and ass-slapping.*

And lots of posing before mirrors like they were runway models. With suspected strategic stuffing.**

And the familiar greeting, "Hey, Bro. How they swingin'?" Brospeakers find it mandatory to inquire about the state of others' testicles. Including people of the feminine persuasion. They haven't taken anatomy classes yet.

Boasting is not confined to verbal behavior. Sometimes they need to compete by lifting heavier weights or taking risks by skateboards or other things.

All with an air of studied nonchalance.

If these sort of things are annoying, consider this: They feel mighty cool while doing this. And they're mostly harmless.

*Usually, those are the only asses they get to slap, other than in a barnyard.

**Bras are not the only things that might get padded.



8 comments:

  1. So funny, Angel...My son in law is always reminding my daughter that their son is "just a boy thing" when he demonstrates certain behaviors. Some of the lingo carries over to the girls in college now, such as "dude". Love your picture.

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  2. I never tried the strategic stuffing back in the day. Next time I'm in my 20's I'll have to give it a go.

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  3. Great post! From a linguistic standpoint, I should note that there is an equivalent to "how they hangin'/swingin'?" in German ... the expression "Wie geht's, wie steht's?" literally means "how's it going, how's it standing (up)?" Adult discourse is international.

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  4. Do you remember Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch? I think he may have been the inventor of bro-speak!

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