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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 slang phrase associated with the counterculture and used to describe higher authority; the MAN-agement. 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; its meaning is pejorative. 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.
Calling someone "the man" can also be a form of praise, as in "You're the man now dog!" This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, such as a game in progress, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like, "You are -the- (best) man (for that)!" Without the definite article, "man" can be used as a friendly and casual mode of address, as in, "Hey, man." Or "Come on, man!"
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 (and the film of the same name), William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch and in the Velvet Underground's song "Waiting for The Man." The term is almost exclusively used to mean the dealer of heroin, crack or cocaine.
History
The original use of the term "the Man" in the first sense above dates back to about 1918, when it was commonly used as a code word for the warden of a prison. 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. (See, for example, Velvet Underground's 1967 song "I'm Waiting for The Man.") 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."
In popular culture
Dewey Finn as played by Jack Black in the movie School of Rock defines The Man thus:
- "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 had to ruin 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!"
The Ben Folds song "The Ascent of Stan", from the Rocking the Suburbs album, includes lyrics about someone who was once a hippie, but has since grown up:
- Once you wanted revolution
- But now you're the institution
- How's it feel to 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.
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!"
In April 1990, the phrase "you da man" first came into popular usage during the Masters Tournament in Augusta that year. Raymond Floyd, thought to be past his prime but atop the leaderboard, was being followed by a drunken fan who repeatedly yelled "you da man" after every good Floyd shot. Floyd lost the tournament in a playoff with Nick Faldo, and reportedly afterwards told CBS anchor Jim Nance that he wanted to break a golf club over the fan's head. "You da man" immediately came into common usage at golf tournaments, beginning the following week, and has since spread widely to other events.
In December 1997, the satirical newspaper and Web site The Onion gave a "Man of the Year" award to The Man:
- 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.*
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 TV ad, a middle-aged corporate executive is telling a young clerk about how he has a certain 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."
See also
Source
Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.
"The Man"