What (in your society) is a 'real man'?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Is that a typical message heard in many parts of the US?

There's elements that ring true, and elements that are sarcasm or hyperbole. We're a nation of 350 million. There's no one viewpoint on this. There's no one easy answer, no matter how much you might want one.

[The Grand Nudger]

You'd have to go house-to-house, lol. I think the widest agreement you could find would come at the regional dialectic boundaries. If you applied a translation you could maybe combine a few. The way we use language impacts how we communicate the most basic elements of our identities.

eg, a "real man" says yall. Not you all. Not y'all. Yall. That's splitting it up east of the miss, south of the kentucky (fuck you ohio). I, as a "real man" can have a reasonable expectation of saying that word and being understood in-kind so long as I use it within that region, roughly delineated by major rivers, mountain ranges, and the atlantic ocean. If (and when) I go to boston, as an example, my "real man"-ness is only that insomuch as it's expressed as a fetish and recognized other. I would know exactly what kind of bar to go to, to find the kind of girl saying the same thing, using those words. We can make an even finer cut if we use texas. Between boston and texas - and again referencing fetish seeking - I'm basically looking for a place with a country jukebox both ways - the difference being cowboy hats or baseball caps. Subtlely different ideas about manhood roughly map to type-shift even within the southern dialect.

[Thumpalumpacus]

You'd have to go house-to-house, lol.  I think the widest agreement you could find would come at the regional dialectic boundaries.  If you applied a translation you could maybe combine a few.  The way we use language impacts how we communicate the most basic elements of our identities.  

eg, a "real man" says yall.  Not you all.  Not y'all.  Yall.  That's splitting it up east of the miss, south of the kentucky (fuck you ohio).  I, as a "real man" can have a reasonable expectation of saying that word and being understood in-kind so long as I use it within that region, roughly delineated by major rivers, mountain ranges, and the atlantic ocean.  If (and when) I go to boston, as an example, my "real man"-ness is only that insomuch as it's expressed as a fetish and recognized other.  I would know exactly what kind of bar to go to, to find the kind of girl saying the same thing, using those words. We can make an even finer cut if we use texas.  Between boston and texas - and again referencing fetish seeking - I'm basically looking for a place with a country jukebox both ways - the difference being cowboy hats or baseball caps.  Subtlely different ideas about manhood roughly map to type-shift even within the southern dialect.

I say "yall" but type "y'all", because I like the English language more than I care about some jackass's opinion of me. And folks in California don't seem to mind.

[The Grand Nudger]

-and thus, Thump makes himself effeminate by the metrics of inbred pigfuckers all over the south. Which I'm sure keeps him up at night.

California's it's own thing. I may as well be just down the street from home in fontana (and I can give you directions from miami to fontana like it really is just down the street, 5 turns max) - but it's an alien world in la (and I couldn't tell you, offhand, how to get there). Being able to give good directions is manly anywhere, right guys?

[Thumpalumpacus]

-and thus, Thump makes himself effeminate by the metrics of inbred pigfuckers all over the south.  Which I'm sure keeps him up at night.  

California's it's own thing.  I may as well be just down the street from home in fontana (and I can give you directions from miami to fontana like it really is just down the street, 5 turns max) - but it's an alien world in la (and I couldn't tell you, offhand, how to get there).  Being able to give good directions is manly anywhere, right guys?

When I visited Dago for my son's Marine grad ceremony in May, not one single person questioned my manhood as I said "yall". That is solid proof that real men say "yall" even if they spell it with an apostrophe.

And now for a musical interlude:

[Paraselene]

Start saying "yas", as in "yas, queen!", and then you might start receiving weird looks.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yas=YeyaH=yeah-ur.

[energizer bunny]

Protector and Provider might be the basics of societies idea of "real" men.