Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

March 18, 2007

What is hip?

I've been hearing a couple of new descriptive phrases lately that, quite frankly, have me stumped. Maybe Kathleen can clue me in, since she's one of the youngest members of my blog family.

First, what in the heck are "boyfriend pants"? I first started hearing the term "boyfriend jeans", but now that obnoxious "Anything you can do I can do better" GAP commercial is advertising "boyfriend trousers". Are the female youth of America (and the world) actually being taken in, to buy pants for themselves because they are given the name "boyfriend trousers"? Wouldn't it be easier (and cheaper) to buy your pants in the men's department? It's equivalent to the designers cutting off the bottom third of a pair of pants, jacking up the price and giving them the fancy name "Capri"!!

Second, what's the deal with stuff being called "cowboy"? For example, the bakery at my grocery store offers "cowboy cookies". Now I see that one of the national pizza chains is advertising "cowboy pizzas" too. I 've watched A LOT of westerns in my lifetime, and never once do I recall the cook in John Wayne movies presenting the cowhands with pizza, or cookies for that matter. And Little Joe Cartwright never requested any such thing from Hop Sing either.

Help me out someone!!!

14 comments:

  1. I can't help but I'll be interested in finding out the answer. I was knocked back when a friends daughter explained that all her friends want a bra that opens in the front cus it makes "access" easier, she's 13! I thought front closers were for those who cant reach around back anymore cus they aren't limber enough. Little do I know now that my own kids are Adults and not "Hip" anymore either.

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  2. Aw, cowboy up and quitcherbitchin!

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  3. Mark - See? There's another expression I don't get, "Cowboy up". What does that even mean???

    Vpdzoo - "easier access"?? Great googly moogly! These kids are so much more sexually sophisticated than we ever were.

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  4. Anonymous8:51 PM

    Okay, I got this covered...

    1. "Boyfriend pants" - pants that are cut to look like your boyfriend's pants. They have that loose, relaxed fit, and basically, are guy pants (with some minor altercations) marketed to women.

    They are pretty comfy - but not as comfy as actual boy pants.

    Yes, I know, I've worn a guy friend's pants before. ;)


    2. Easy Access - Well... I hear from my friends that there are such thing as "easy access pants" as well- ie, ones that can be pulled on and off quickly, usually, without zippers and buttons and such. They follow the same concept.

    3. Cowboy cookies- This can be partially blamed on Laura Bush. She called a set of cookies that she published a recipe for "cowboy cookies" and the name stuck to the type of cookies.

    Now, Laura Bush didn't come up with the name for these cookies herself; she just publicized them. They were based off of a cookie that was served by a restuarant chain started by a "singing cowboy." The name was given to the cookies, so that type of cookie is now called a "cowboy cookie."


    I hope that covers it all...

    Oh, and "cowboy up" = "pony up" = "buck up" = sexual innuendo. :D

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  5. Cowboy up is a term referring to the concept of "sucking it up" or just freakin' deal!same thing.As for the bf pants/jeans.That pisses me off.I use to wear men's jeans because I liked the cuts better and actually had flighty "fashion police" b*tches point me out for "looking sloppy".

    Looks like I get the last laugh,saving money by buying actual jeans a bf would wear!I hate fashion....

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  6. Anonymous10:54 PM

    Okay, there's that translation too,.. I was just providing the more common "slang" version of it.

    :D

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  7. wow, so im not the youngest in the vincent family! yay for me!

    although i can answer your first question... but it looks as though kathleen did a good job at explaining it. they're mens pants cut a different way for women. they're comfy. i like them :)

    i dont know about the cowboy thing...that's not really marketed over here in ks

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  8. Kathleen and JoJo:

    "Cowboy up" does mean buck up. But it's not a sexual innuendo.

    It means pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Be a man.

    Don't be asissy. Take it like a man, Compare "cowgirl up" for a woman.

    The first place I heard it used, I think, was "The Electric Horseman":

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079100/

    Course, Willie Nelson had the best line of the movie:

    "I'm gonna get me a bottle of tequila and find me one of them Keno girls that can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch and just kinda kick back."

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  9. Okay, I just saw Kathleen's follow-up comment. If there is a sexual meaning to "Cowboy up" that you're aware of, I'd love to know what it is EXACTLY.

    I'm all about increasing my vocabulary.

    :oD>

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  10. Anonymous10:42 AM

    Mark,

    I think the best way to explain it is to say that most of Vermont (not me) has an affinity for a certain song called "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy!"

    So, you can see where the reference comes from...

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  11. Anonymous12:30 PM

    And sadly enough, I know children who would love to sing that song in kindergarten and wonder why I
    won't let them. "But it's such a good song", "Yes, I am sure it is..but let's sing...."

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  12. Erm - more than 25 years ago I bought women's Levi's, which were mens ones with a couple of tucks under the waistband to make them fit the female shape. (Not much use to me as I am straight up-and-down at eh hips/waist).

    Plus ca change?

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  13. Well it seems to me that these so called "boyfriend pants" probably cost way more than buying pants in the boys' department. And how can they possibly fit comfortably on women who have curves????

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  14. I don't know about theses "bf pants" but when I wore guys jeans I bought them large enough to fit loosely across my hips,often they substituted for a belt,these hips.Gotta be good for something,'cause they sure won't be "birthing hips".

    Funny thing is...I have had guys and GIRLS comment on how sexy they found these wide hips,because they seemed...feminine (so the girl explained to me).I just shrugged,because she didn't know what it was like trying to find pants for these "curves".Even when I was an 8 I was "curvy".

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