Not Sure How I Feel About This…

The Man Hug. For me it is reserved for my Dad and Brother, and my sons. Of course, the article has the expert that has to say that if you do not want to hug it is homophobia. Well, color me homophobic, or maybe from a different era and a different set of rules. Or maybe it is the WASP upbringing.

Otherwise it is a very funny article from the Denver Post:

Manhug!

The hug, long reserved for women, celebrating sports victories, and men from other countries, is muscling its way into everyday American Guydom.

Stoic machismo still thrives, but at its heels yaps a touchier, Dr. Phil version of virility. Boundaries are eroding. Defenses are being scaled.

The male hug is complicating everything.

Men accustomed to the automatic and dependable hand clasp accompanied with a brisk up-and-down pump at dinner parties and college reunions, now must preface their greetings or goodbyes with intricate and split-second calculations based on body language, length of friendship and other factors.

Do I shake or do I hug?

Making the right choice matters. If one guy goes for the hug, but the other decides upon a handshake, they might collide. An excruciating dance will follow, as the poor lads work feverishly to determine what to do with their hands, their arms, their bodies.

Memories of the previous disaster will haunt all following encounters. It’s possible the fellows will even dread socializing, for fear of the paralyzing hug decision.

“It used to be a handshake. Now everyone wants to give the little bit extra,” says Davis Cline, 43, sitting in the sun on the 16th Street Mall with a few of his fellow construction workers on a recent afternoon.

As his colleagues “rated” the attractiveness of passing women, Cline said “there’s a time and place” for the male hug.

“I don’t know you’d get in front of all of your construction buddies and give hugs,” says the Lakewood resident. “Maybe we’d hit each other.”

Hat tip Fark