# Are you a macho man?



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Enough of these fruity, pastry and cute animal polls, let's get serious. 

How many fistfights have you had in your life?

Recently someone here pointed out that Navy Seals questioned the manhood of violin players, suggesting they weren't tough enough. Also, Robbie Fairchild, a principle dancer for the NYC ballet, recently tweeted that he met a former schoolmate who bullied him. Many of you are (or were) musicians who played in the school band. I hope I'm not insulting anyone when I state that the boys in the band are not usually considered the manliest students in the school (as opposed to those who go out for football).

Fights with siblings or any relatives don't count. Neither does boxing a student's ear who threw a spitball(sorry schoolteachers). Both professional and amateur boxing matches do count as long as the Marquess of Queensberry rules were followed. 

I am not condoning fighting nor offering to fight anyone (that wouldn't be a fair fight). Of course, fights with weapons don't count either- wouldn't want anyone in incriminate themselves. However, conflicts on the battlefield do count, as long as you were part of a country's legal armed forces, such as a soldier or Navy Seal. 

Ok, this is another silly poll. And maybe you were bullied and have deep resentments for incidents that still affect you. Feel free to vent in that direction too. I'm not belittling the hurt that bullying can inflict. The number one cause of suicide for people under 21.


----------



## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

I am a macho..... WOMAN!!!!!!!! 

Nah, I don't fist fight ever. It frightens me, and being something of a 21-century lady in the nature, I dislike even seeing them. As for boxing, I generally do not watch it, though I did do kickboxing for a while just this year. And, as many can imagine, I _hated _it. :lol:

I think I'll just stick with music.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

In high school, the second-chair sax player got mad at me for doing my job as a first-chair, and he challenged me to a fight. I laughed and walked off. He left me alone, and I was proud of myself for defusing the situation.

A couple months later, I found out that my best friend, a Hispanic, saw the showdown and went up to him later and pointed out all his Hispanic friends and said, "If you mess with him, you mess with them." 

That's as close as I've come. I guess you don't have to be macho when your friends are - literally.


----------



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Sorry, but I think the number of fist-fights is a poor indicator of machismo/manliness. It's usually a good indicator of 'meatheadedness'. More fighting does not equal more macho. True manliness is an acquired attitudinal maturity.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> Sorry, but I think the number of fist-fights is a poor indicator of machismo/manliness. More fighting does not equal more macho. True manliness is an acquired attitudinal maturity.


"Manliness" and "macho" are not synonyms everywhere or for everybody anywhere. Even "mucho hombre' and "macho" are not synonyms; the former is a condition, the latter an attitude.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Well here I am on an average day










Make up your mind, am I a lover or a fighter?


----------



## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I have been in many fights and they were all terribly boring. I just stood there while the other people got worn out.

FIGHTING IS STUPID WEAR A DRESS AND LISTEN TO TINY TIM

i am slightly drunk but this is fine


----------



## Musician (Jul 25, 2013)

I'm more of a Gentleman then a Macho man....


----------



## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I'm a complete softie 

^_^


----------



## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Well here I am on an average day
> 
> Make up your mind, am I a lover or a fighter?


Obviously a Star-Wars-*Loving* *Fighter*.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

mstar said:


> Obviously a Star-Wars-*Loving* *Fighter*.


I don't even like Star Wars all that much


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I grew up in the boondocks, so I got into a fist fight or two when I was a kid. Never after that; I'm an over sized teddy bear.


----------



## Schubussy (Nov 2, 2012)

Only ever been in one fight against this tiny Asian guy in my high school. He was really really aggressive, there was something wrong with him I think, plus apparently he had family problems at home or something. One day I slightly brushed against him when walking past and somehow he took this as me attacking him or something like that and started fighting. I pushed him down a hill and walked off.


----------



## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I don't even like Star Wars all that much


Storm trooper...........


----------



## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Schubussy said:


> I pushed him down a hill and walked off.


 S-Schubussy?? Wooooaaaaaahhhhh!!!! :lol:


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

Oh deary deary me what a kerfuffle, I am 100% man and do all the things that men do, I appreciate fast cars, good wine, beautiful women and that's that!


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I didn't expect this to be taken seriously,but I don't think here is much of a place for fighters in any case.


----------



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I had a few fights growing up, but only with guys that bullied me.
I hate bullies.
Lost some, won some.


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

Does scuffling with my brothers count (2 of those, both have made my nose bleed)? Being hit by my sisters (3 of those, 2 have made me cry)?

I've never been in anything resembling proper fisticuffs, though I have been in 'bundles' as a 13 yr old!


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

moody said:


> I didn't expect this to be taken seriously,but I don't think here is much of a place for fighters in any case.


Why the suit of armour then????


----------



## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

I am a karate black-belt in the Goju-Ryu style. Had some fights when I was in grade school, was pretty good at them. 

I would also not equate 'machoness' to 'manliness' - the macho constantly tries to assert himself through force, whereas the man doesn't, but if provoked, kicks the macho's *ss.


----------



## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Well, I was technically in one, since someone 'attacked' me during a school camp, but I never hit him back, instead carefully avoiding (most of) the blows; and thus only he was punished and I was a pacifist hero. My opponent was for a while not the most popular guy around, as you can probably reason. Most fights nowadays occur when at least one of the people involved is drunk, and I tend to abstain from the alcohol, and the parties held under the influence of it.


----------



## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Got a couple scratches when i was in puberty Everything was so serious back then...


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

MacLeod said:


> Why the suit of armour then????


Why the suit of armour then.....what about it?


----------



## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I hate physical violence in all its forms. 
As for the "macho" thing, either. I'm quite average in that respect. Although I can fix any broken apparatus in the house.


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

moody said:


> Why the suit of armour then.....what about it?


It's a joke, moody. You said "I don't think here is much of a place for fighters" and yet your avatar shows a suit of armour, presumably expecting blows.

Ha ha?

(Perhaps the suit is empty.)


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

MacLeod said:


> It's a joke, moody. You said "I don't think here is much of a place for fighters" and yet your avatar shows a suit of armour, presumably expecting blows.
> 
> Ha ha?
> 
> (Perhaps the suit is empty.)


What I meant was that TC probably was not the place to find fighters. As for me I've been fighting all my life and that's probably how I ended up in the branch of the services that I did.
As for the armour,it covers secrets maybe---unlike so many here I am not interested in telling all. I think it reflects what I am .
The other drawback is that the mods don't like violence even when it's only verbal.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

When I was young I had a couple of dust-ups on the sports field and a few off it - standard fare for a male with my kind of blue-collar background, perhaps. But I was never a trouble-maker. As I'm now 50 I like to think I will never need to fight again, whatever the situation.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Honour the absent. Everybody here ought to remember that Myaskovsky2002 was macho.

Though even he had to admit once:



myaskovsky2002 said:


> Aramis is Arabic, then more macho than I am...


----------



## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

I fight with/against myself.


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

moody said:


> [...] As for me I've been fighting all my life and that's probably how I ended up in the branch of the services that I did [...]


I gave a resounding 'Like' to the posting quoted above as it reminds me of something the comedian Spike Milligan once said about people in the armed forces claiming perhaps a less-than-totally-deserved glory: "What, the Catering services?" Still, let it be said that no army can march on an empty stomach.


----------



## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

Thanks to this thread I now have this song stuck in my head


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

To continue the silliness, I'm a 'macho' when it comes to food: not for me unsatisfying mouthfuls of fancy fine food _à la nouvelle cusine_, thank you very much! 
I wonder though if there a female equivalent of the 'macho' trope? I understand 'macho' to mean an exaggerated highlighting of received socio-cultural signifiers of masculinity. I ask this as I read an article recently about Afghan soldiers (a fairly macho culture as far as I understand the term) who every first Friday in the month will wear make-up (lipstick, eye liner and so on...) and indulge in same-sex ...er, how to phrase this (?) .... frippery, given the rather restrictive mores in that country.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

No. I'm too old for a lot of rough stuff. But as I used to tell my son, 'Only a fool looks for a fight!' A 'macho' image is usually a sign of immaturity, insecurity or lack of intelligence. The smart guys are those who win without having to fight.


----------



## niv (Apr 9, 2013)

Nowadays I think the most important fights are fought with words in the realm of ideas.

So... no, I'm not the fist fighter type.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

How many fist fights have I had in my life? Between three & twenty.

I grew up in a terraced Northern street in the fifties; it was full of kids, and though I've always been a peaceful type, if I couldn't run away or talk my way out of it, then I had to fight (other girls). If I *did* have to, I'd *win*, purely because after a point an atavistic berserker 'clan rage' would take over from my fear. Plus, I am one of a family of six, children of an ex-army boxer. My brothers regularly beat me up, and I passed it further down the line.

The result: I respect courage and I am not a pacifist, but private fights are just pointless brawls. Grow up, gentlemen!

Peace; love; joy. :angel:


----------



## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I agree with Kenny Rogers on this one:

Walk away from trouble if you can 
it don't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek
you don't have to fight to be a man.

That's how macho I am!


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

niv said:


> Nowadays I think the most important fights are fought with words in the realm of ideas.
> 
> So... no, I'm not the fist fighter type.


Hah. The importance of fights is apt to be highly subjective, whatever the weapons.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Winterreisender said:


> I agree with Kenny Rogers on this one:
> 
> Walk away from trouble if you can
> it don't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek
> ...


"On the other hand" it is necessary to defend your space or lose it, be you man or woman.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Some years ago I was driving my elderly mother in the car when a young man on a motorbike took exception to my driving. At the next traffic lights he drove up beside me and challenged me to a fight. I ignored him but he was persistent so I told him I was driving to the next police station where if he had a complaint he could make it to the police. He then started making all sorts of chicken gestures towards me before driving his infernal machine away.
I was left contemplating the sheer lack of intelligence of that young fella. After all he did not know who I was. There was an incident not too long back where a guy confronted another in a road rage incident. The guy confronted turned out to be a criminal who fatally stabbed the other man. 
There was also the fact that the lad was on a motorbike which is exceedingly vulnerable if I had chosen to run him off the road with my car, which some drivers might have done. I didn't, needless to say.
Added to which I don't think it very 'macho' for young fellas to pick a fight with middle aged men whose elderly mothers are with them. He probably went and boasted to his mates that he had intimidated a muscle man rather than a portly, ageing, pot-bellied gentleman who was past it.
I just hoped he would live long enough to grow some sense.
Years ago I knew of a guy who decided to confront someone in a large Mercedes. When they stopped, out of the Mercedes stepped Jeff Capes!


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

Hilltroll72 said:


> "On the other hand" it is necessary to defend your space or lose it, be you man or woman.


It _may _be necessary. I've not been faced with that problem since childhood, when I confess I didn't deal with it well.


----------



## niv (Apr 9, 2013)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Hah. The importance of fights is apt to be highly subjective, whatever the weapons.


Almost everything important in life is subjective  (and that's one idea I'm bent up in convincing people of)

edit:


DavidA said:


> Some years ago I was driving my elderly mother in the car when a young man on a motorbike took exception to my driving. At the next traffic lights he drove up beside me and challenged me to a fight. I ignored him but he was persistent so I told him I was driving to the next police station where if he had a complaint he could make it to the police. He then started making all sorts of chicken gestures towards me before driving his infernal machine away.


Everyone that has watched Back to the Future knows how that ends up, right?


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

niv said:


> Almost everything important in life is subjective  (and that's one idea I'm bent up in convincing people of)
> 
> ?


I can assure you that getting a broken nose is NOT subjective!


----------



## niv (Apr 9, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I can assure you that getting a broken nose is NOT subjective!


Yea, that's an objective fact. Now, whether is it worth or not getting a broken nose, that's subjective!


----------



## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

Being into body-building a lot of people might think I look like I'd be a good fighter, 
I hope having a bit of muscle might actually put someone off having a pop at me in the first place.
I hate violence anyway, I'm not a fighter, I would never knowingly put myself into a situation were it might occur.


----------



## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

Who are you staring at!!!!!


----------



## Forte (Jul 26, 2013)

Crudblud said:


> I have been in many fights and they were all terribly boring. I just stood there while the other people got worn out.
> 
> FIGHTING IS STUPID WEAR A DRESS AND LISTEN TO TINY TIM
> 
> i am slightly drunk but this is fine


I agree and relate completely to the above post!

except the last part


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

A Sunday morning is JUST the right time for that poll, matey ...









( - Oh, is it that late now - & already? )


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

The most aggressive men are small, hence the old saying "in every small man there is a big man trying to get out"


----------



## Moscow-Mahler (Jul 8, 2010)

No, I am not. I am very peaceful person. But life in Russia is far from being peaceful.

Too much machismo in the society can be dangerous.


----------



## Moscow-Mahler (Jul 8, 2010)

There were some cases of "bloody" machismo in Russia in recent years.


----------



## Moscow-Mahler (Jul 8, 2010)

This is one of them.

Two guys were walking down the street in some provincial Russian city. One of them were an amateur boxer. Some drunken guys asked them for a cigarette.

- We don't smoke! - said the amateur boxer.
- You are f*g*ots, - said the drunken guy.

The amateur boxer hit the drunken guy. The guy fall into the ground. He dead some time after that.

I suppose, we have too many amateur boxers and too many drunken men.


----------



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

It was fun reading everyone's interesting comments. I think we can all agree(never really was a doubt) that fistfighting is pretty stupid, especially after puberty. Besides the obvious reasons, dental work can be very expensive! I had about three fights during my early teen years and got my butt kicked in everyone. (that's why fighting you wouldn't be fair, you'd kill me!) And also that's one reason why I became a hippie: peace, love, dove! A couple other thoughts.

Someone mentioned that small guys seem to fight more. I think that small guys tend to be "picked on" and therefore become better fighters. 

As far as road rage, a friend of a friend recently got a $250 ticket for that. Here in New Jersey, the law is, if you step out of your car to engage in a discussion with another motorist, that's considered road rage, whether any fists are thrown or not. Apparently, you can sit there and yell out the window all you want, but get out of the car and that will cost you. I believe there's also a fine for indecent gesture, we all know what that is. 

Thanks for playing!


----------



## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

```

```
^^^^ Speaking of road rage... how many of us saw that on the news? 

Anyway, I'm just about as macho as Debussy's Arabesque I.  In terms of fighting, of course.


----------



## georgedelorean (Aug 18, 2017)

Been in a physical altercation? Not yet. Wanted to? Straight up.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I voted zero because the few fights I have been in never involved fisticuffs, but were more like wrestling because neither me nor my opponent apparently knew how to fight. Other than that, I missed out on a few fights because I (and sometime my friends with me) ran away. Now I could tell some crazy stories of instigating fights and somehow escaping in wild automobile chases, but am afraid even now, 40+ years later, I might say too much and those greasers might come looking for me, so I remain silent on public forums.


----------

