What IS that?? I really wanna know!!

Are they checking to make sure it's still there?? Do they think that it might fall off?? Is it some kind of psychosis? Are they trying to testify to their manhood?? Is it just some kind of unconscious (bad) habit??

Please ... fellas ... somebody tell me what is up with that!??!!

To make sure nobody will take it.

quote:

Originally posted by HonestBrother:
To make sure nobody will take it.

That's really funny!

But, y'all know at a young age, anyway, y'all are trying to give it away at the drop of a hat!!

But, seriously .. the answer doesn't have to be rational or reasonable. It doesn't have to make sense ... I understand it can be non-nonsensical. But .. there's got to be a reason, right??

Or no?

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:

quote:

Originally posted by HonestBrother:
To make sure nobody will take it.

That's really funny!

But, y'all know at a young age, anyway, y'all are trying to give it away at the drop of a hat!!

But, seriously .. the answer doesn't have to be rational or reasonable. It doesn't have to make sense ... I understand it can be non-nonsensical. But .. there's got to be a reason, right??

Or no?

Woman, please! Like you gotta ask?! HB said it as clean as possible...basically paraphrasing the late Richard Pryor:
(As a White Guy):"Why you guys hold your 'things?'"
(As Himself): "'Cause you took everything else, motherfu-ker. Ni%%as be checkin'."

And just for the record, we're not giving it away. We're leasing it to you...or "releasing" it to you. 'Cause if we actually "gave" it away, you'd never give it back to us.

See? It's better to give than receive.

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:
somebody tell me what is up with that!??!!

Maybe this isn't relevant anymore, but as a kid when the brothas in my neighborhood had beef with each other, they would say, "Man, suck my dick!!!"

Say something like that these days and a dude might take you up on that. But, back then, it was no thing.

What was up with that?

quote:

Originally posted by Santana St. Cloud:
[Say something like that these days and a dude might take you up on that. But, back then, it was no thing.

What was up with that?

Worst possible form of emasculation...

Today, it's a come on...

how enlightened we've become....[/sarcasm]

quote:

Originally posted by Santana St. Cloud:

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:
somebody tell me what is up with that!??!!

Maybe this isn't relevant anymore, but as a kid when the brothas in my neighborhood had beef with each other, they would say, "Man, suck my dick!!!"

Say something like that these days and a dude might take you up on that. But, back then, it was no thing.

What was up with that?

I remember guys having those little incidents, too. And at least there was some reason behind it ... it was supposed to be a macho thing .. and was usually a reaction to a previous action.

Today I was in a gas station, and a 20-something guy pulled up in his Navigator. He was wearing baggy pants and the crotch of the pants were about 2 inches from his knees. But, he got out the truck holding his penis .. as if stepping out the truck he had to take it with him, or he thought it was going to fall off and he was trying to keep it in his pants!

He walked into the store to pay for his gas ... and on the way out, he grabbed it again as he was stepping off the curb.

And I'm thinkin' ... "Since his pants are so baggy, does he feel like he doesn't have his *thing* with him at all times? Does it get lost in his pants?" And it looked really funny him holding it, when the crotch of his pants were closer to his knees!

So, I don't know. I mean, it's not something that's detachable and you can leave on the dresser when you leave the house!

Maybe the real question should be why don't you females hold y'all stuff?

quote:

Originally posted by MBM:
Maybe the real question should be why don't you females hold y'all stuff?

If you're talking about boobs, women do that; they call it a striptease.

However, now if you're wondering why women don't grab their crotches, it's because...other than due to an STD, what's there to grab? They don't have a reason to. We know why we grab ourselves in public. Outside of sexual reasons, we do it for an inventory check and for underwear realignment.

Now if a woman grabs her crotch in public, she need to see a doctor...IMMEDIATELY!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Huey,

"There are two things that are infinite, human stupidity and the universe...and I'm not too sure about the universe."
--Albert Einstein

I remember a conversation about this topic when the movie "Do the Right Thing" came out. I saw it with several international friends in grad school. They asked a similar question to ER and I think I said something to the effect, that its the only thing black men have left to hold on to in this world.

Speaking of DTRT, here is a clip with Sweet Dick Willie and the text of an exchange between Mookie and Buggin Out that touches on this theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppqtlo8z95w

-Buggin' Out: You the man.
- Mookie: No you the man.
- Buggin' Out: You the man.
- Mookie: No you the man.
- Buggin' Out: No. I'm just a struggling black man trying to keep my dick hard in a cruel and harsh world.

LOL....

You all are funny!

I logged out and THEN I saw this topic....and of course, I had to look!

"To make sure nobody takes it????" & "Better to give than to receive???" ROTFLMBBO!!!


"Wisdom Is A Woman CRACKIN Up!"

quote:

Originally posted by MBM:
Maybe the real question should be why don't you females hold y'all stuff?

Because we have enough of a hard time getting you guys to look us in the eyes as it is!!

We start calling attention to any other part of our body, and we'd never get to have a decent conversation with you!


And @ Huey for that last comment!

~Black men COPIED it from Italians, is my guess. I tried to think back to when we first started seeing it. It's a "swagger" thing for black men, right? And it's not --- or wasn't a downsouth country thing. It was a citified thing. "City" Italians were doing it first. Black men copped it and put it with the "lean" and the "pimp step" and made it their own. That's what I think. And then I googled it...silly me....just out of curiosity...not really expecting ANYTHING, and the first link on the list was to ITALIAN MEN. Don't "we" just love "The Godfather" and "Scarface" movies?~





Can't Touch This

Why Italians grab their crotches to ward off bad luck.

By Juliet Lapidos

Posted Tuesday, March 4, 2008, at 5:36 PM ET


Italy's highest appeals court ruled that a 42-year-old workman broke the law by "ostentatiously touching his genitals through his clothing" and must pay a 200 euro fine, the Telegraph reported Friday. The U.K. paper also noted that crotch-grabbing is a common habit among superstitious Italian males, who believe the gesture wards off bad luck. What does the crotch have to do with luck?

It's the seat of fertility. The crotch grab goes back at least to the pre-Christian Roman era and is closely associated with another superstition called the "evil eye"—the belief that a covetous person can harm you, your children, or your possessions by gazing at you. Cultural anthropologists conjecture that men would try to block such pernicious beams by shielding their genitals, thus protecting their most valued asset: the future fruit of their loins. Over the centuries, the practice shifted. Men covered their generative organs not only to defend against direct malevolence but also in the presence of anything ominous, like a funeral procession.

These days, an Italian man might also grab his crotch in risky situations, like a high-stakes poker game. In such cases, the grab isn't a defense mechanism against bad luck but rather a way to generate good luck. Once again, this practice relates to the folk belief that the phallus is auspicious because it's the source of masculinity and reproduction.


As an alternative to grabbing themselves, Italians sometimes resort to phallic amulets or gestures that also have roots in the pagan world. Ancient Romans wore a phallus-shaped charm on their wrists or around their necks called the fascinus; modern Italians sometimes wear a corno, which is shaped like a horn. For centuries, Italians have been making a horizontal horn sign called the mano cornuta to repel adversity, accomplished by extending the index and little fingers while holding down the other two fingers with the thumb. When the same gesture is directed upward, it's the sign for a cuckold.

The crotch grab or corno might come in handy when Italians come across traditional bad omens, like nuns or the number 17. Women of the cloth are associated with two inauspicious places—cemeteries and hospitals. There are a couple of plausible theories for the 17 superstition: If the 1 is penciled in slightly below the 7, then the number looks a bit like a man hanging, where 1 is the man and 7 is the gallows. Written out in Roman numerals as XVII, 17 becomes an anagram for the Latin word vixi, which is the past tense of to live.* As it happens, many tomb inscriptions start with vixi, so the word and, by extension, 17 became connected with death.

Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks Teodolinda Barolini of Columbia University, Pellegrino D'Acierno of Hofstra University, and Martin Stiglio of the Italian Cultural Institute in Toronto.

Correction, March 4, 2008: This article originally stated that the Latin word vixi is the past tense of to leave. It's actually the past tense of to live. (Return to the corrected sentence.)

Italian high court bans public crotch-rubbing
By Tom Chivers
Last Updated: 3:16am GMT 29/02/2008


Keep your hands where we can see them - Italy's highest court has ruled that men who scratch, adjust or otherwise manipulate their genitals in public are committing a criminal offence.

How About That? Because news doesn't have to be serious
The Guardian reports that judges in the "court of cassation", the highest court of appeal in Italian law, have moved to criminalise not only shameless crotch-scratching, but also a specific local superstition.


According to Italian folklore, a swift grasp of one's generative organs - known by Italians as their "attributi" - protects against bad luck.

A funeral procession passing by, or disaster or disease cropping up in conversation, therefore brings a flurry of men's hands descending crotchwards.

The issue came to light after a 42-year-old workman from Como, near Milan, was convicted of indecent behaviour after "ostentatiously touching his genitals through his clothing".

Despite claims by his lawyer that the action was nothing more sinister than a "compulsive, involuntarily movement, probably to adjust his overalls", the court was unimpressed.

Such behaviour "has to be regarded as an act contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical behavioural rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially offensive to collectively-held feelings of decorum," they said in their ruling, ordering the man to pay a €200 (£152) fine and €1000 (£760) costs.

While superstitious groin-grabbing has become less acceptable in recent years, the phrase "io mi tocco i…", or "I touch my…", is still used in much the same way as "touch wood" is in English.

Judges in the case were helpful enough to suggest that would-be crotch criminals wait until they are the privacy of their own home before letting their hands wander.



Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:

quote:

Originally posted by MBM:
Maybe the real question should be why don't you females hold y'all stuff?

Because we have enough of a hard time getting you guys to look us in the eyes as it is!!

We start calling attention to any other part of our body, and we'd never get to have a decent conversation with you!


And @ Huey for that last comment!

Nuh, uh, EbonyRose. Shame on you for even asking that question/starting that topic in the first place.

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:

quote:

Originally posted by Santana St. Cloud:

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:
somebody tell me what is up with that!??!!

Maybe this isn't relevant anymore, but as a kid when the brothas in my neighborhood had beef with each other, they would say, "Man, suck my dick!!!"

Say something like that these days and a dude might take you up on that. But, back then, it was no thing.

What was up with that?

I remember guys having those little incidents, too. And at least there was some reason behind it ... it was supposed to be a macho thing .. and was usually a reaction to a previous action.

Today I was in a gas station, and a 20-something guy pulled up in his Navigator. He was wearing baggy pants and the crotch of the pants were about 2 inches from his knees. But, he got out the truck holding his penis .. as if stepping out the truck he had to take it with him, or he thought it was going to fall off and he was trying to keep it in his pants!

He walked into the store to pay for his gas ... and on the way out, he grabbed it again as he was stepping off the curb.

And I'm thinkin' ... "Since his pants are so baggy, does he feel like he doesn't have his *thing* with him at all times? Does it get lost in his pants?" And it looked really funny him holding it, when the crotch of his pants were closer to his knees!

So, I don't know. I mean, it's not something that's detachable and you can leave on the dresser when you leave the house!

~The guy is a trifling and disgusting pig. I would have asked him why he's holding his dick so much. It's hardly due to any physical distress and discomfort. He thinks it's "cute". Ask him why? It would seem perfectly within your rights to invade his space and sensibilities with the question, since he has invaded yours with the very image that your question relates to. How would the "imagery" be seen as okay to inflict, but a direct question about it be seen as *gasp* "not okay"? *shrug*

Very inspiring question you've posed, ER! I will DEFINITELY inquire of the very next male that I see do this. Put him on the spot. See what he says. I wonder if he'll say he's itching or adjusting his undies? Or, if he'll just admit to being a disgusting pig? ~

quote:

Originally posted by Huey:

We know why we grab ourselves in public. Outside of sexual reasons, we do it for an inventory check and for underwear realignment.

I don't know about other sports but, baseball players always got their hands down there. And they're always adjusting their cups.

quote:

Originally posted by Huey:
Now if a woman grabs her crotch in public, she need to see a doctor...IMMEDIATELY!

Madonna grabs her crotch/snatch in her "Express Yourself" video. She does it in concert too.

Any of you guys read "Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America"? It's an interesting read. (I wouldn't know about Lexington Steele otherwise. ) I don't think/remember if the author talked about crotch grabbing, though. If he didn't, he should've.

quote:

It's the seat of fertility. The crotch grab goes back at least to the pre-Christian Roman era and is closely associated with another superstition called the "evil eye"—the belief that a covetous person can harm you, your children, or your possessions by gazing at you. Cultural anthropologists conjecture that men would try to block such pernicious beams by shielding their genitals, thus protecting their most valued asset: the future fruit of their loins. Over the centuries, the practice shifted. Men covered their generative organs not only to defend against direct malevolence but also in the presence of anything ominous, like a funeral procession.

Thats just too damn funny!!

quote:

Originally posted by Huey:

Nuh, uh, EbonyRose. Shame on you for even asking that question/starting that topic in the first place.

But I really wanted to know, Huey!! Really! This was not a *trick* question. As a woman, and not having one, I just can't for the life of me figure out what that is! So, I figured I'd ask. I don't know how else I could know.