The Man

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This page is about the slang phrase; for other uses of the phrase, see The Man (disambiguation). For the human male, see Man.

"The Man" is a moniker phrase used to describe higher authority. This "Man" does not usually refer to a specific individual as such, but instead to the government, leaders of large corporations, and other authority figures in general, such as the police. The Man is colloquially defined as the figurative person who controls our world. The Man is also often used as a symbol of racial oppression.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe perceived oppression, but in modern times it is most often used facetiously in an ironically resigned fashion. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist"; however, this is also used facetiously sometimes.

Calling someone "the man" can also be a form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (that is in charge)." In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

A third and minor meaning of "the Man" is that of a drug dealer. The slang was used in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such places as Jonathan Larson's Rent, William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan to buy heroin.

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[edit] History

In the Bible, 2 Samuel 12:7, the prophet Nathan rebuked King David for his adultery with Bathseba and murder of her husband with "You are the man..." The term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to about 1918, when it was commonly used as a code word for the warden of a prison. According to conservative, African-American writer and professor Thomas Sowell, the term "being hassled by the man" was used by poor farmers in the post American Civil War South to refer to the "Bank Man" who would hassle them about the late payment of debts. In the Southern U.S. states, and particularly in African-American slang, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. The phrase was also an underworld code word for police or other law enforcement or penal authorities. On the flip side, it was also a term for a drug dealer. It came eventually to be applied by blacks to whites, especially in the role of oppressors; see for example, Newsweek, August 3, 1964: "It is time to let The Man know that if he does something to us, we are going to do something back." The use of this term was expanded to other counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into ironic usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

The use of the term 'the man' as a form of praise has an older provenance. One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's actions at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."

[edit] In popular culture

"The Man. Oh, you don't know The Man? The Man's everywhere: in the White House, down the hall, Miss Mullins; she's The Man! And The Man ruined the ozone, and he's burning down the Amazon and he kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank! Okay! And there used to be a way to stick it to The Man, it was called rock 'n roll. But guess what? Oh no! The Man ruined that too with a little thing called MTV! So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool or pure or awesome 'cause The Man's just gonna call you a fat washed up loser and crush your soul. So do yourself a favor and just give up!"

Once you wanted revolution
But now you're the institution
How's it feel to be The Man?
  • Roy Orbison recorded the song "Working For The Man," about a mistreated laborer. After first thinking about killing the boss, the narrator later dreams of getting revenge by marrying his daughter and inheriting the business. In the final refrain, the eponymous hook is replaced with the line, "I'm gonna be The Man."
  • The phrase was also popularized in the 1989-1994 FOX variety show, In Living Color. Damon Wayans played a character known as Homey D. Clown, a bitter ex-con African-American clown who would interrupt the children's parties and other events where he was playing with anti-establishment rants complaining about how "The Man" was keeping him down. In one sketch he even meets "The Man" himself.
  • Empire Records, a movie about an independent music store, refers to the man several times, including in its tagline, "Damn The Man! Save the Empire!"
Before you point the finger you should know that I'm The Man.
And if I'm The Man then you're The Man, and he's The Man as well..
This year, no man has distinguished himself by relentlessly dominating society, controlling the global marketplace, and keeping the little guy down quite like the man we honor here today, and that man is The Man.... Who among us can honestly say they have never backed down in the face of the staggering magnitude and power of The Man? Many have devoted their entire lives to resisting The Man, but, in the end, their efforts have brought them failure, degradation, and, more often than not, utter destruction at The Man's mighty hand.[1]
  • The "man" in the title of the 1970s sitcom Chico and the Man refers both to an individual man (the character of Ed Brown, played by Jack Albertson, who employed the Chico Rodriguez character, played by Freddie Prinze) while also alluding to the fact that Ed Brown, to the much younger Chico Rodriguez, represented The Man, or higher authority in general.
  • The year 2000 film Finding Forrester featured a line in which the lead character, William Forrester, a great writer (played by Sean Connery), mocks the street language of the urban youth in his town by yelping "You're the man now, dog!" to his apprentice. This line has since risen to cult fame and become the basis for a comedy website of the same name, due to the awkwardness of the line's delivery.
  • In the 2002 film Undercover Brother, the villain is "The Man," played by Robert Trumbull.
  • In the same year, "The Man" referred to a then-shadowy figure on the ABC series Alias who was a mastermind of terroristic acts around the world; ironically, the character was later revealed as a woman portrayed by Lena Olin.
  • In a slightly surreal 2005 Nextel TV ad, a middle-aged corporate executive embodying every stereotype associated with the corporate establishment is telling a young assistant about how his Nextel cellphone plan that gives him total freedom and that it's his way of "Sticking it to The Man!" The clerk responds, "But, you are The Man!" The Man says, "I know!" The clerk says, "So you're sticking it to yourself?" After a short pause, The Man concedes, "Maybe."
  • During the 1990s, spectators at professional golfing events would shout "You da man!" after a player hit his drive. However this is considered poor spectator etiquette as it could be distracting to the player and irritating to the general public. It is now used much less frequently.
Left a good job in the city,
Workin' for the man every night and day

One of their other well-known songs, Born on the Bayou, mentions the narrator's father giving the following advice:

[...] don't let the man get you
Do what he done to me


"Dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man"
  • In The Mighty Boosh, Howard Moon is saying that people such as 'The Man' are always trying to put him in boxes, but as he 'spans the genres' he cannot be put in a box. Vince Noir replies by asking him if he has contacted the police.
  • In one episode of the sitcom That's My Bush, George decides to steal cable, commenting to Laura that he is "sticking it to The Man". Listing the problems with such a line of reasoning, Laura's starts: "First of all, you are The Man..."
  • The Song, "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield contains the line, "Step out of line, the man comes and takes you away."
  • At the Burning Man festival, the 40-foot effigy statue is often colloquially referred to as "The Man."

[edit] See also

[edit] Source

Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.

Sewell, Thomas. (2005). Black Rednecks and White Liberals . Encounter Books.

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