Customer Reviews

Brocabulary: The New Man-i-festo of Dude Talk

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Brocabulary promises a dictionary of all the words a steriotypical "bro" man needs but doesn't have. If that's what you're looking for, then that's what you'll get. Subjects tend to involve beer and women, with the odd foray into smoking pot or activities associated with a restroom.

I found discussions of words for women's clothing to be accurate in their own way. Yep, when a skirt is short enough that I can see the [...] cleavage, it is appropriate to call it a "squirt skirt."

Mixed in are cartoon drawings of women, always curvy with cleavage showing and large lips, and men, kind of scruffy and shaped like their clothes. The pics are drawn well for what they are.

This is a well done version of the concept. If the marketing and the idea of a book of short terms describing women as objects, humorous bodily functions, and drinking with the guys, then you will probably enjoy this.

What it is is a very clever list of expressions that might be used by a dudeamaniac. It is not a dictionary. The words are nonce-words, not exotic expressions with which you need to be familiarized. For example: a fanimal is a fan who is so hardcore that he's on the verge of being a wild animal. The vulgar expressions are more juvenile and usually more clever, as are the sexual expressions. The book is somewhere between a Jeff Foxworthy humor book and a succession of dirty jokes. It might be put on the jokes-for-the-john hook in an Animal House-type fraternity or it could be the perfect airplane read, so long as you're not sitting next to a person who could be offended by the illustrations. Most of all, it's probably the sort of book that a group of 12 year-olds might pass around as they sip their first beers. That's not to say that it isn't clever. It's very clever, just not very tasteful.

I have to admit I came into 'Brocabulary' with the wrong impression. Nearly twenty-five years have passed since I entered the classroom as a teacher, and by trial and error, I came to intermittently speak inner city lingo. Sometimes it promoted understanding, at others laughter. While I've tried to promote formal, consistent English in those situations where farming children use "ain't" and city children use words like "homie" and "dog," it has always been my task to understand all students and their language.

Although 'Brocabulary' is not really a dictionary (no I won't repeat his spelling), it does often give the social context for his own made up words. More of a comedy book, 'New York' magazine's Daniel Maurer proves himself a resourceful and multi-faceted author and comedian. The result is a book that resembles more of an R-rated version of Tim Allen's 'Don't Stand Next to a Naked Man' or an extended Chris Rock stand up routine.

Starting irreverently (in both senses of the word), Maurer takes on history with 4,000 B.C. "Meso-BRO-tamia" and "Egyptian GUY-roglyphics". From there the Dude-speak (Did I make that one up?) comes out in flying colors. There are chapters about "BRO-mmunication," drinking "Barticulation," and recreation or "Chilloquialisms".

In the wrong hands the book is bound to offend, for political correctness gets no hearing with lines from Lincoln stated as "Four whores and seven beers ago." Most will have no trouble laughing at "neanderbrawl," to paraphrase a drunken fight by stupid men. But much of the material is about genital size and treating women as sex objects. The latter isn't quite as bad as it sounds because he partly pokes fun of the male-centric world he recreates. Some of the best material comes from the tables. For male and female bonding there's (forgive me) "Breastination" and "Testosterzone". One set reads, "You and your friends are getting your nails painted," for the former, and "You and your friends are nailing each other with paint guns," for the latter.

While witty, I wonder why he put so much effort into this project. At times tiresome, at others blurt out funny, Mauerer still delivers, if not exhausts, all the informal takes on male bonding and obsessions. Is Daniel Maurer the next Dave Barry? If he channels his resources in the right direction, probably so.

I was quite prepared to hate this book. There is an absolute glut on the humorous handbook market, and even the category masters have run out of ideas: The Worst-Case Scenario Almanac: History. However, the "Also by Daniel Maurer" reference to his fictional previous "Guide" gave evidence of a warped enough sense of humor (or mind) to pull this off, and pull this off he does!

The reason it works for me is the surprisingly delicate balancing act. On one level Daniel is giving relatively practical advice to "men" who would aspire to behave like this; on another he is clearly making fun of anyone stupid enough to try to behave like this on a regular basis since the end result is likely to be death or imprisonment, or at the very least divorce or getting dumped. True, the wannabe player can glean some useful tips: if you use your liePhone for cheating on your girl, don't leave it where your girl can find it, but this book is clearly intended more for the older and wiser bro now willing to live vagicariously through the stupidity of others. If you are too mature to do this anymore but just immature enough to be brostalgic about it, this book is for you.

Of course the key to something like this is the quality of the heologisms. Are they something you'd be willing to use cold sober? Are they something you could remember while drunk? How many of these will make the grade of passing into general use? Probably none, but that doesn't mean that some aren't worthy of consideration.

Chances are that we've all engaged in brocrastination. We can all learn the wisdom of friendjamins. We've all felt the urge to manalyze. We've all wondered about the stripping point, been tempted to approxidate, desperately battleshipped, taken someone out to an impresstaurant, at least unintentionally malienated, been on the receiving end of fembellishment, femcroachment, or femtrapment, been sent on embarrassing herrands at certain times of the month, been caught treating something important as vagibberish, wished death or worse on a PDA-hole, and felt the need for freeodorant or freetergent, even if we never indulged. If NOTHING in this book makes you smile, you are either totally lacking in humor,...

or you are reading it while your girlfriend/wife is watching you.

Defects? The most obvious is the lack of an index, perhaps to be fixed upon publication. In a topically arranged lexicon this is absolutely necessary; you won't be able to find your favorites quickly without one even if you haven't been drinking. Overall there are arguably too many lame attempts at humor and too many neologisms that are no improvement on the original; you should definitely page through a copy to make sure that it's your mug of beer, and if you are a woman, you probably shouldn't even bother. This is definitely intended for the guybrary not the library.

But I will definitely be on the lookout for Daniel Maurer's next book.

The most impressive aspect of this book is the astonishing fact that a book so full of tasteless garbage is actually getting published by a relatively major publisher. Brocabulary consists of, as the title suggested, a collection of "brocabularies", in the form of a "man-i-festo of dude talk". This fine volume contains chapters such as "ho-cabularies", among other timeless pearls of wisdom. This is the type of book that will inevitably appeal to young men who feel the need for masculine posturing by degrading women in order to assert their insecure gender identity and confused sexual leaning. Undoubtedly, fully-grown Neanderthals who have recently emerged from a hole - including media luminaries such as Don Imus and Howard Stern - will equally find Brocabulary to be brilliant penned and indispensable source for their prime comedy materials. The book is impressively offensive to both women and men, managing to drastically lower the bar of intelligence usually applied to published authors. Fabulous tidbits include an entry for "herrands (aka whore chores)" which are "emasculating errands that you're forced to run for your girlfriend." I like a dirty joke as much as the next guy, but a book full of witless, tasteless, and sexist gags isn't exactly my idea of a good time. But for those who genuinely dig this sorry excuse for a book, I'd wholeheartedly recommend such astute readers to expand their reading horizon, and seek out other fine volumes consist of not only sexist gags, but perhaps homophobic and racist jokes.

The book, as Amazon has described, is for "teens". It is, perhaps, somewhat excusable if this book really was written by a beer-guzzling, sexually frustrated acne sufferer who has yet been taught the fundamentals of human decency. The book's author, Mr. Daniel Maurer (the esteemed editor for the Nightlife section of the New York Magazine WEBSITE), however, is shockingly not a teen, but a gentleman in his ripened old age of mid-thirties. It likely took a lot of effort for him to pen this brilliant Manifesto between long days of wedging his head farther and farther up his creative orifice and trying to hold on to the fleeting memories of the glorious days with his loving "bros".

Having read through this book, I can say it is exactly what it claims to be; a dictionary of various "dude"-type lingo. It's not exactly deep, rather like the culture it depicts, but it is very broad, rather like the culture it depicts.

It's funny and vaguely disturbing, all at the same time (rather like the culture it... oh, you get the idea). Some if it had me actually laughing out loud (The Ten Bromandments, most notably, as well as Lincoln writing a letter after a night of drunken excess).

Really this is the sort of book you're not going to read cover-to-cover. It's a good book to keep in the bathroom for those times when you need something to occupy your attention, and there's nothing wrong with that! In fact, given the nature of the book, I can't think of any higher compliment!

The author is a writer for New York magazine and I can only surmise he was "Bro(w)beat" into writing this dictionary or reference guide to puerile language. I had some difficulty determining what bothered me more, the fact this book was approved for publication by a renowned publishing house or the realization the term "Brocabulary" already existed in the Urban Dictionary.

The book has to be targeted at a subset of the male species, beginning with specimens that have yet to sprout facial hair and terminating at the point where one replaces the milk crates with a real coffee table. Initially, the puns and witticisms are reasonably humorous but the enjoyment rapidly wears off. It fails to reach the threshold of legitimized code or formalized jargon, mired in obscenity, sexism, and chauvinistic thought. I can see no viable reason to read this book in any number of sittings but to attempt to do it in one is tantamount to numbing one's brain.

One saving grace however is it will not have a long shelf life. Scheduled for release in October, it will be forgotten by November. Without doubt, humor is always subjective but making it subjugation is a bridge too far.

What do you get when you cross a clever wordsmith with a misogynist pig -- the kind who would take being called a "misogynist pig" as a compliment? Why, "Brocabulary". Each page of this book is stuffed with sexist puns and wordplay that describes the world as seen through the eyes of the stereotypical horny male. Most definitions are too rude to mention here, but let's just say that "love 'em and leave 'em" -- preferably for compliant and besotted strippers -- is the guiding philosophy. The Brocabulary definition of "Arctic drilling," say, has little to do with extracting oil from ANWR, and "bag and release" does not refer to a humane way of hunting quail.

The word play is sometimes funny, but it is relentless and vulgar. And that just might be its main selling point. If you like humor that explores and celebrates just about every kind of male sexual fantasy and preoccupation, "Brocabulary" just might hit the spot.

If you talk with a guy between the ages of 16 and about 25 you've no doubt heard the way they talk to each other. "Brocabulary" helps to explain what the heck they are saying as well as throwing in some new terms you may not have known. The overall concept of the book is pretty funny however after awhile the shine wears off. The book will give you a chuckle but only if you read in small doses, it's a great bathroom reader. This is a book for guys, I seriously doubt that any woman would find much to laugh about in here.
So if you want to give yourself a laugh and learn some new words to use with your bros, check out "Brocabulary".

When I was a kid, Playboy mags were passed around the classroom. The teacher (who was basically clueless) would say "Are you passing around Comic Strips?!!" and the kids would say "Strips yes, Comics no!" I'm sure this book will also be passed from one classroom desk to another.

Brocabulary has lots of bathroom humor and is pretty funny in places, expecially with the play on words, such as "guyamese twins - two guys who are pretty much inseperable", "Freebauchery - debauchery that costs you nothing", "Guygestion" and "Crappetizers", and "Pourmaldehyde" what you do with your used chewing gum, which ends up as a description of a mini-brain in a beer bottle. Cool.

Alot of this is funny, some of it is actually great advice (even the pourmaldehyde idea- try that the next time you're at the stadium with your date or with the bros).

And just about every entry in this book has something to do with Sex, or Sex, or Drinking, or Sex, or Puking, or Sex.

How many books do you know that can boast of such a one-sided, single-minded plot?! Brocabulary is one looong trip down a strange literary highway littered with Eros and Gross-out.