manspreading
English
WOTD – 10 May 2016
Etymology
A male commuter engaging in manspreading
From man + spreading. Coined in 2014.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmænˌspɹɛdɪŋ/
Audio (RP) (file)
Noun
manspreading (uncountable)
- (informal, derogatory) The practice of men splaying their legs open wide when sitting on public transport, thus occupying more than one seat.
- Coordinate term: womanspreading
- 2014 December 20, Emma G. Fitzsimmons, “A scourge is spreading. M.T.A.’s cure? Dude, close your legs”, in The New York Times:
- The new ads — aimed at curbing rude behavior like manspreading and wearing large backpacks on crowded trains — are set to go up in the subways next month.
- 2015 January 10, Margaret Wente, “Advice to younger women: Practise manning up”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto:
- Manspreading is certainly bad manners in a crowded subway – and so is other stuff, like people wielding giant backpacks.
- 2015 January 16, Natasha Devon, “The rise of stranger shaming: How humiliating others became acceptable”, in The Independent, London:
- Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram show thousands pictures of men engaging in this behaviour, and New York's transit authority launched a campaign against ‘manspreading’, with a Tumblr dedicated: Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train.
- 2016, Kelly Starrett, Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World, page 190:
- Manspreading creates stability for your pelvis and lower back. You can either position your feet together and let your knees fall to the sides or spread your feet wide.
Quotations
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:manspreading.
Synonyms
- man-sitting
Hypernyms
- seat hogging
Translations
practice of men splaying their legs open wide when sitting on public transport
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Verb
manspreading
- present participle of manspread
Further reading
manspreading on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- ampersanding