Is "cut of your jib" a derogatory English usage in the United States?

Last evening while enjoying a local production Schlehenbier at a pub which I frequent I made the acquaintance with a tall man from Texas with a jaw that looked to be formed as Stonehenge. I made what I thought was an accepted and common used English language compliment that I like the "cut of his jib". It taught me rather by surprise when he said (which I hope is collected correctly for this narrative) "I ain't no fruit cake fairy boy". I tried to respond with a clarification as to the nature of my friendly comment while I too was not firmly grasping the meaning of his colloquial expression but he had already walked away much like a cowboy exiting a hair salon in an old western. It puzzles me that he reacted with what felt like a steam pipe being punctured by a paper clasp.

The "cut of your jib" isn't really a phrase I've heard or used very much, but I think any normal person would have caught the sailing reference and reasoned that clothes are to people as sails are to boats and accepted your compliment of his attire. But this guy sounds like a typically ignorant Texan so he probably had no idea what a jib was. He might also think that anyone who would compliment his clothes would have to be gay. I've never found fake cowboys to be a very intelligent bunch.

Originally Posted by Philosoph

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I've never found fake cowboys to be a very intelligent bunch.

Originally Posted by Philosoph

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The "cut of your jib" isn't really a phrase I've heard or used very much, but I think any normal person would have caught the sailing reference and reasoned that clothes are to people as sails are to boats and accepted your compliment of his attire. But this guy sounds like a typically ignorant Texan so he probably had no idea what a jib was. He might also think that anyone who would compliment his clothes would have to be gay. I've never found fake cowboys to be a very intelligent bunch.

Frankly, the entire anecdote sounds fabricated, but going on the assumption that it is not.....

It is not really socially acceptable behavior to walk up to strangers and say "I like the cut of your jib". Do you think if he did this in the enlightened utopia that is New York that the response would have been any different? Maybe a bit less profane or homophobic, but certainly no less dismissive.

Again, I ask: is that you, Vaclav?

I always thought the phrase was used more to compliment someone's demeanor, ideas, beliefs, etc., rather than their clothing.

THe saying doesn't really refer to clothes. It has more to do with character. Also, because it is a sailing reference, it is less likely to be heard in Cowboy country. More of a Northeastern thing, to the extent it is used at all. And it isn't, so much.

A few thoughts:

He might have taken exception to your presuming to pass judgment on him, even if it was favorable.

He might have wanted to make it clear that he wasn't one of those effete Easterners who blathers about yacht racing in their clubs rather than building dams with nothing but his bare hands and a spoon, or molesting mules or whatever "real men" do in their spare time.

Or, he might have thought you were making a pass at him and wanted to be sure you knew he was not in that market. Sometimes foreigners' use of nominally idiomatic English can send the wrong signals.

Originally Posted by Roland Loden of Germany

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but he had already walked away much like a cowboy exiting a hair salon in an old western.
they had hair salons there?

Originally Posted by m@T

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they had hair salons there?

Yes, but they called them hair saloons.

My jib is uncut.

Originally Posted by edmorel

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My jib is uncut.

Then you should no problem shopping at the Andover Shop

Jon.

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

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Frankly, the entire anecdote sounds fabricated, but going on the assumption that it is not.....

It is not really socially acceptable behavior to walk up to strangers and say "I like the cut of your jib". Do you think if he did this in the enlightened utopia that is New York that the response would have been any different? Maybe a bit less profane or homophobic, but certainly no less dismissive.

The end result might have been the same in New York. But if a random person said this to me, my first thought would probably be that he was weird and awkward, but not that he was gay. I might also expand my notions of what is socially acceptable behavior when dealing with people whose first language isn't English.

If this little story is true, then it's the homophobia that annoys me most, not the dismissiveness. There's enough of it in Texas already; we don't need to export it to Germany.

Mr. Krabs might appreciate the compliment..

Originally Posted by gnatty8

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Mr. Krabs might appreciate the compliment..

wow, how many are going to get that Spongebob reference?

I got it, but I'm under the age of 18

JB

I appreciate the input given here but still cannot wrap my genteelness around the behavior of this Texan man as I always understood that state to be a habitat of hospitality with stories of warm chili brewing on the oven for strangers.