locker room talk
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]locker room + talk, from the stereotype of crude conversations taking place in athletic locker rooms.
Noun
[edit]locker room talk (uncountable)
- (slang) A type of boastful, lurid, chauvinistic conversation that commonly takes place in all-male locker rooms, especially such conversation concerning sexual conquests and the like.
- 1988, Larry Hirschhorn, The Workplace Within: Psychodynamics of Organizational Life[1], pages 130–131:
- Locker room talk is both sports talk and dirty talk. Men compete with one another (thus the sports talk), but they control the anxieties associated with competition by downgrading the prize they all want—women.
- 2016, Donald J. Trump, “Donald J. Trump’s Apology for Vulgar Comments”, in The New York Times[2]:
- This was locker room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I'm not proud of it. But this is locker room talk.
Usage notes
[edit]- The term gained prominence during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign when it was used to characterize certain controversial recorded comments.
- Often used either to dismiss inappropriate comments as harmless private banter or, conversely, to criticize the normalization of sexist or objectifying language.
Synonyms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]locker room talk
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