I’m pretty sure the great majority of people have heard, or even spoken the phrase “You da (the) man”! So I went to the source of all information to try and discover its origin. And as is often the case, the Internet was of little to no help in my quest for knowledge. But it has to have started somewhere, right? Maybe its instinctual, like a toddler knowing how to “gimme 5” without anyone showing him. Or maybe like that same young boy mastering the remote control without any instruction whatsoever. In context, “You da man” is a commendation exclaimed vocally or texted (WITHOUT an emoji if you’re a REAL man) on the heels of a noteworthy, and occasionally dangerous feat of unusual accomplishment. If a guy on your team makes an exceptional play, either on offense or defense, another guy will assuredly tell him that he’s the man. If your buddy plows through a couple of servings of 7-11 nachos (pictured above), a jumbo Slim Jim, a package of Ho-Hos, and a Mountain Dew Big Gulp at lunch, he is definitely the man. And if a friend can do something in fifteen or twenty minutes that has taking you the better part of a weekend with multiple trips to Home Depot and STILL not finished, you better make sure to tell him, “You da man!” More recently, due in part to the Internet, there is an onslaught of, shall we say, ill-conceived attempts at temporary fame and notoriety that will inevitably evoke shouts of “You da man” from peers of questionable intellect and/or foresight. How else would video of dudes in rolling office furniture being dragged at speed by a another dude in an F-150 come to be?
Think about it: I’m almost positive that we could reduce the number of emergency room visits and orthopedic procedures if we all had that one friend who, instead of watching amusedly while his friend hit a flaming bottle of lighter fluid with a golf club or skateboarded off of the lanai onto a moving ATV, suggested the likelihood of impending bodily and property damage. Let’s call it a voice of reason. But on the other hand, space exploration would not exist if the astronauts had told their wives that they were climbing into a fiery, metal tube to see if they could land on the moon. So there is a balance. Men, before we venture into unknown waters, figuratively speaking, we need to share our thoughts with another man, preferably one that will tell us if proceeding will earn us a “You da man” for doing something great, or at least positive and worthwhile.
(Click “Stand on Firmer Ground” for deeper look into You da Man!)