About every couple of weeks I hear of another “man” surfacing in the triathlon world. Last year I started to compile a list of the new men entering the sport. The list kept growing, and growing…it was unbelievable. What is it with this sport’s obsession with a man? Sure there is the granddaddy of all men, the Ironman, but come on race directors, try to be more creative and original when naming your races. Maybe I’m missing something…lets see, TriAmericaman, Great Floridianman…nope!
I did some research and I found a total of 68 manly races. For some names like Tinman, you will find many events with the same name. I only listed one occurrence for each unique man. Here they are -
Abitaman
Amphibiaman
Aquaman
Atomicman
Boilerman
Buffman
Californiaman
Cajunman
Chesapeakeman
Chickenwingman
Concreteman
Cornman
Crawfishman
Cyman
Deadman
Demolitionman
Demoman
Devilman
Diamondman
Dilloman
Dutchman
Eagleman
Firmman
Gatorman
Grandman
Hammerman
Hillman
Iceman
Ironman
Lavaman
Lobsterman
Mattoonman
Miamiman
Mightyman
Milkman
Minneman
Missionman
Mooseman
Mossman
Mountainman
Musselman
Oddman
Pigman
Pineappleman
Pineman
Powerman
Prairieman
Pumkinman
Quarterman
Redman
Rocketman
Sandman
Shrimpman
Silverman
Spudman
Steelman
Stoneman
Terraquaman
Texasman
Timberman
Tinfoilman
Tinman
Titaniumman
Turtleman
Ultraman
Vineman
Windman
Woolman
I’m sure there are lots more men out there than the just the ones listed above.
Alright ladies, for the past several years the percentage of women in the sport has been increasing. Isn’t it about time you got the recognition you deserve in race names?
in cincinnati the reds have a “business man’s special”–that’s what they call the day games through the week.
this one in particular gets me–because I’m a business owner, and am not a man. so, i call it the “business person’s special” or the “business day special”. really, what’s up with the penis theme?
why are things so gender oriented? it is an interesting question. or maybe it’s really not and it just seems to be at this second because i haven’t had any coffee yet.
I just wanna not run over too many (can we change that to persony) manhole covers when I ride. And when I get to work and my manager (personager) gets on my case…I hate that. But all of this is just semantics (sepersontics if you will). Guess men think they invented language and feel the need to repeat it throughout.
That is one very impressive list. And it is already getting longer with a few contributions from above.
The only thing worse than a “blankety-blank-MAN” triathlon is a tinman “TRIATHALON”, especially after they already silkscreen it on 500 shirts. I guess if they can’t even spell, you can’t expect them to be creative, can you?
“-man” is an anglo-saxon root word meaning “all people” (not just males). It’s roughly the same as the latin root “homo”. Only more recently has “man” begun to refer specifically to males. Although you might read a term like “businessman” or “Ironman” to specifically refer to males I think the meaning and spirit of those terms is gender neutral.
So if you feel offended by the “businessman’s special,” I guess that’s your prerogative. And in my experiences living in Cinci in the early 90’s, for all I know, maybe they are referring to males only.
So if you feel offended by the “businessman’s special,” I guess that’s your prerogative. And in my experiences living in Cinci in the early 90’s, for all I know, maybe they are referring to males only.
you know that’s right!
“When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always twenty years behind the times.”
-Mark Twain
There was always some kind of excitement when I was there. I was “lucky” enough to be there during the Mapplethorpe and the Marge Schott n-word controversies. Of course, there were the periodic KKK rallies on Fountain Square. Missed the race riots from a few years ago, though.
Well, the obvious solution is to come up with a gender non-specific term to replace “-man.” After giving this way too much thought and discarding “stud,” “dog,” and “hottie,” I have found an appropriate replacement - “geek.” Chesapeakegeek, Gatorgeek, etc.
And the real reason for my post - You left out the world famous Mullett Man Triathlon at the Florabama.
We (somewhat seriously) considered changing the name of the Musselman this year.
There’s a landfill (i.e. massive mountain of dirt and trash) about half an hour from our race that sponsors a lot of things because maintaining a good appearance in the community is important for them - disposing trash is very big business. So we approached them (Seneca Meadows is their name) to inquire about sponsoring the Musselman.
Our committee had some laughs coming up with potential new names if they decided to be Title Sponsor. The GarbageMan was our favorite, and our slogan would be “Trash your body, we’ll clean it up afterwards.”
Never made it past the drawing board - Seneca Meadows declined our offer. A shame, really.
quad–the race riots were horrible. people got shot all the time, and literally you could be sitting at a red light and get shot just out of no where…it happened quite a few times to innocent bystanders. downtown has not recovered from it.
marge is gone now, as you know, and later on she was able to redeem herself a little bit, which was a good thing.
the city is a fiasco of sorts and is a total joke. but there are good things that come with it too (the hills, cost of living, quality of life, brats/mets). the key to living here is to ignore all politics and news. otherwise, it’s hard not to walk around in a fit of rage over the stupid decisions and incompetence that is so prevelent in this city (or maybe that’s just me…lol)
.
Thanks