I haven't participated much but I know there are rules so please delete or move this if you need to - had no idea where to post the question! Just wondering what you would call an adult male throwing a temper tantrum. As a woman, I've thrown a few myself & I call it hysteria. But don't have any idea what to call them when an adult male does. Thanks for any help. It will help me a lot with my future poems and short stories!
Hmm, perhaps I will accuse my husband of 'man-splaining' something. That usually tips him over the edge and will give me a good example. Boil-over, chest-pound, lose it. . . Fit of rage?
A reasonable, and a defined, raising of the voice level to achieve domestic tranquilities - during radio ethics debates and such-like: 'Cease fire, my children,' I say. 'Father's having his period,' they all say. 'I hate you, you, and you are adopted, my wife, ah fuck it,' I reply. 'Ooooh, hark at her, the she-devil is in town.' 'I am not a she. When will you people take me seriously! Go to your rooms.' 'No, you go sit in your room, Daddy. Go visit your website...' 'Heh, ha ha ha, ha ha, ha ha, hey Dad you're a writer, ha ha ha.' 'I am leaving, misfits. I am going to the supermarket for my researching...so watch me.' - a typical victory.
'Hysteria' works for me. Any time a person of any gender flies into an illogical hissy fit and won't stop, I'd call it hysteria.
Yes, but the word has associations...baggage, hence her post... as do words like 'flounce.' How about male hissies of the more frightening variety: rage and fists, and anger, snarl, teeth, strength, power, dominate, dominance & so on?
You have obviously never observed me in full flow, awesome in my wrath, fluffing my feathers, clacking my beak....
I need only to cease your pecking, turn the lights low - for community's sake, as a professional I'm saying, you understand me now. Same at home time, when 'get the fudge to bed,' I say, but they ignore me because they are bigger. One day even the chickens will be bigger, then what the farmer going to do? You answer, eh? Doodle? Cockadoodle doo etc.
It would really depend on the the manner and tone of the tantrum in the man. Also, are we looking for a word to refer to the man himself or to the behavior in which he is engaging? None of the answers that come to mind in any of the permutations are going to sound pretty, so... I would rather limit myself to a more specific answer.
I'm on my phone or I'd say more. Hysteria won't work. As noted above, the word has feminine roots. Not sure that's exactly how it's defined. I'll look it up when I'm at home. Thanks very much for the help here. Lots of great suggestions! More later! Tks very much!!
Hysteria's feminine roots doesn't mean that you can't use it for a man's tantrum. The dictionary definitely doesn't indicate that it only applies to a woman. I think that the choice of word would depend on the nature of the tantrum. Hysteria, frenzy, rampage, "a tear", uproar, ruckus.... Edited to add: Or, of course, "tantrum".
I like mantrum. And, as noted above, it would seem that more than one term for this kind of behavior has undeniably feminine etymology, even if we don't use the words solely for one gender anymore, which can make using these terms feel iffy. The response I was going to offer, assuming we are looking for a thing to call a person, not the action, is when a man is being a little bitch. I hesitate to throw that out as an offering because I can see the brickbats being raised as I type, but there is a particular kind of mantrum that elicits that sentiment in my mind. I cannot help it. Especially when I hear men kvetching about their impinged manhood, about how manliness is being robbed from them. Is there anything that sounds less manly than men bitching about this? I'm just like.... the irony. It's an irony tsunami. Just replace "I am the king" with "I am a man".
Yeah, I started off in that funny place...but then I thought more about a guy completely freaking out, punching walls...will he punch you, will you call the police [you fool] or will he sleep it off?
I call that Alpha Overload. I also happen to think that a man who gives in to Alpha Overload is repressing some some sexual urges. I mean, think about it. Fisticuffs is easily as intimate as a rogering.
I hate typing on this friggin' iPhone, which I dearly love, btw , but these are my thoughts for now. I'm not really talking about anything violent but mantrum doesn't really do it for me either - it's too forgiving, almost not serious enough. If you care about someone you try to take the tantrum seriously. If you don't, it's almost a joke. Good questions here - making me think - which is what I needed to do.
This is what I wanted to address more closely (as well as the word 'hysteria'): I thought the very same thing. Am I looking for how you would define or (God forbid) label a man throwing a tantrum or the tantrum itself. I think it would be fair to address the behavior, not the man. These are things I don't understand - the reason for my question. Thanks!
Luckily, I found it quickly! hys·te·ri·a həˈstirēə,həˈsterēə/ noun noun: hysteria; plural noun: hysterias exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people. "the mass hysteria that characterizes the week before Christmas" synonyms: frenzy, feverishness, hysterics, fit of madness, derangement, mania, delirium; More panic, alarm, distress "his fictional account of an alien invasion caused not-so-fictional hysteria among the radio audience" antonyms: calm Psychiatry a psychological disorder (not now regarded as a single definite condition) whose symptoms include conversion of psychological stress into physical symptoms (somatization), selective amnesia, shallow volatile emotions, and overdramatic or attention-seeking behavior. The term has a controversial history as it was formerly regarded as a disease specific to women. Maybe I'm old-fashioned.
I usually refer to it as "Flipping his shit" or "Freaked out." If I was talking directly to the offender or someone else & we were making fun of them (which guys usually will) I'd say he was having a hissy fit.
The disease definition, and the behavioral definition, are quite separate. I find the idea of choosing to use it as a woman-only word, and making that choice based on the disease definition, rather offensive, because the disease never really existed. NOT using the word at all is dandy, but using it only for women is, to me, a worrying choice.
