Women’s studies begat men’s studies, which is now doing some begatting of its own. Such is the media fascination with the world of the “bro,” a men’s mental state of mateship where all men — all straight men that is — live by often unspoken rules of how to interact with each other, those mysterious creatures known as women and The Big Lebowski.
From every Judd Apatow movie to “Entourage,” bros have man-hugged and man- crushed their way into the national consciousness.
So it’s no shock that there are now two new humor books on the topic: “The Bro Code,” the bro bible from Neil Patrick Harris’ Barney Stinson character on “How I Met Your Mother;” and “Brocabulary: The New Man-I-Festo of Dude Talk,” by Daniel Maurer, a so-called manthropologist.
Though calling them books is generous. More like bro- chures, they read like bro-mides for the Bud-and- Beastie Boys set. “The Bro Code” is a series of man-laws, one to a page, meaning any half-serious bro can easily read the whole thing before the nachos congeal.
The more explanatory “Brocabulary” — basically a dictionary, if Noah, er, Broah Webster had knocked back Jaeger shots and scarfed down buffalo wings — is “Moby Dick” by comparison.
Much of the “Code” — revolving around not wanting to seem too sensitive (meaning gay) — is unsurprising. “Bros don’t cuddle.” “A Bro never cries.” “Bros don’t speak French to each other.” “If two Bros decide to catch a movie together, they may not attend a screening that begins after 4:40 p.m.” (The ultimate irony is that the “Code’s” cover bro, Neil Patrick Harris, is openly gay in his nonbro life.)
The “Code” is funnier when dealing with women (“A Bro shall alert another Bro to the presence of a chesty woman, regardless of whether or not he knows the Bro”) and the culture stuff (“A Bro shall stop whatever he’s doing and watch “Die Hard” if it’s on TV.”) Now that’s a code to live by.
“Brocabulary” is more consistently entertaining, even if the majority of the words are probably pulled from the author’s imagination and have never been uttered by any living bro. Divided into categories such as “Player Palaver” and “Chilloquialisms,” the book teaches us such terms as “dude lighting” (“mood lighting created by flat-screen TVs and neon Miller Lite signs”). Of course, with these books’ exposure of all these “brodak moments,” women will now be on to us. Who knows, we may even have to stop being bros and start being men. Bummer.
