What is swagger? discuss

PaulSLH · Feb 4, 2010

"...and now the dudes are lining up because they hear we got swagger, but we kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger..."

chronoaug · Feb 4, 2010

Well being cool and slender is key. Slender allows the clothes to hang on you naturally and even look good in things that fit a little bit off (if it's too tight it'll just look skinny if a little loose it'll just look oversized). When you're slightly overweight or average (which in actuality is slightly overweight just our standards are so low in the US) it's very easy to unflatter yourself. Being cool/comfortable just allows people to like you when hanging out in real life or give off a vibe that you'd be fun. Some posters that post here don't necessarily look like a good time.

Dedalus · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by chronoaug

When you're slightly overweight or average (which in actuality is slightly overweight just our standards are so low in the US) it's very easy to unflatter yourself.
Skinny fat/slightly over weight looks so god damn awkward. I think straight up fat, like Biggie or Don Corleone, has more swagger in it than when you look like ET with your shirt off.

everybodynobody · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by chronoaug

Being cool/comfortable just allows people to like you when hanging out in real life or give off a vibe that you'd be fun. Some posters that post here don't necessarily look like a good time.
I guess I just don't get "swagger." People who are concerned with having "swagger" don't seem like they'd be fun to hang out with at all. If I saw these guys pictured below in real life, I'd feel the urge to punch them rather than want to hang out with them. They need to lighten up and lose the 'tude.

Originally Posted by indesertum

Some of the stuff this forum comes up with just makes me go WTF?

chronoaug · Feb 4, 2010

really, the top guy, baguette from what i've seen on sufu looks like he's a cool guy. Fuuma seems to be fun and quite the drinker as well. Hap has always seemed kinda pretentious and lame but that yannick guy from sufu is really man-pretty so there'd always be ladies where he goes.

everybodynobody · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by chronoaug

really, the top guy, baguette from what i've seen on sufu looks like he's a cool guy. Fuuma seems to be fun and quite the drinker as well. Hap has always seemed kinda pretentious and lame but that yannick guy from sufu is really man-pretty so there'd always be ladies where he goes.
Maybe they're actually fun guys to be around in real life, but from the pictures they look pretentious, vain and unapproachable. I don't get a fun or friendly vibe from them.

Fuuma · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by everybodynobody

I guess I just don't get "swagger." People who are concerned with having "swagger" don't seem like they'd be fun to hang out with at all.

If I saw these guys pictured below in real life, I'd feel the urge to punch them rather than want to hang out with them. They need to lighten up and lose the 'tude.

Some of the stuff this forum comes up with just makes me go WTF?

Who says we'd want to hang out with you anyway? We're cool remember? Cool people don't mingle with the plebes.

More seriously you have to consider the crowds people run with, I'm sure accountants from Oregon would think I dress like a poof and want to punch me if they dared break the law but in large urban areas, hanging out with the arts/hangers on/fashion/nightlife people my wardrobe is fine and dandy without making me a clone of everyone else. Same is true for Baguette and I'm guessing the other people displayed. There is very few things more naive than thinking the doxa that applies to you can be extended to everyone else.

mlyngard · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by everybodynobody

I guess I just don't get "swagger." People who are concerned with having "swagger" don't seem like they'd be fun to hang out with at all.

If I saw these guys pictured below in real life, I'd feel the urge to punch them rather than want to hang out with them. They need to lighten up and lose the 'tude.

Some of the stuff this forum comes up with just makes me go WTF?

Agreed, that's why I said OP clearly confuses 'Emo' with swagger.

The ultimate irony, IMO, is that you'll never have swagger if you consciously aspire to have it. That's why it's so elusive.

I think this thread is more about identifying that swagger quality in others, not how to wear it ourselves.

More music swagger:

mlyngard · Feb 4, 2010

Pictures above lead me to another thought:

Swagger that appeals to other men doesn't always appeal to women, and vice-versa.

Fuuma · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by mlyngard

Agreed, that's why I said OP clearly confuses 'Emo' with swagger. The ultimate irony, IMO, is that you'll never have swagger if you consciously aspire to have it. That's why it's so elusive. I think this thread is more about identifying that swagger quality in others, not how to wear it ourselves. More music swagger:
This is the kind of mythologizing and aura effect (extending looking cool to mean the person possesses a bunch of other qualities) that is ridiculously debunked by taking a quick look at people like The great white Duke, an entertainer as self-conscious and calculated as can be.

Fuuma · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by mlyngard

Pictures above lead me to another thought:

Swagger that appeals to other men doesn't always appeal to women, and vice-versa.

Are "men" and "women" two monolithic blocs?

everybodynobody · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Who says we'd want to hang out with you anyway? We're cool remember? Cool people don't mingle with the plebes.

More seriously you have to consider the crowds people run with, I'm sure accountants from Oregon would think I dress like a poof and want to punch me if they dared break the law but in large urban areas, hanging out with the arts/hangers on/fashion/nightlife people my wardrobe is fine and dandy without making me a clone of everyone else. Same is true for Baguette and I'm guessing the other people displayed. There is very few things more naive than thinking the doxa that applies to you can be extended to everyone else.

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chronoaug · Feb 4, 2010

The fact that you're using referencing ben folds at all eliminates any and all cool points. Unless you're a cute but safe/lame indie chick from 2005

Fuuma · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by everybodynobody

video removed
But you do understand what I am trying to convey, right? Otherwise we're just talking past each other. I'm not trying to quantify coolness right now, just sayin' different circles have different codes and ways to convey meaning through clothes, attitude, language etc. Something that should be self-evident to anyone over the age of 10 but is often forgotten in the mist of debating. In the end, even if you want to punch me in the face/don't like me, might it be that, with no hatred or malice directed towards you, I am not trying to connect with you anyway? ps: the first paragraph you quoted was a joke, I wouldn't talk to you because my mom doesn't want me to talk to strangers.

mlyngard · Feb 4, 2010

Originally Posted by Fuuma

But you do understand what I am trying to convey, right? Otherwise we're just talking past each other. I'm not trying to quantify coolness right now, just sayin' different circles have different codes and ways to convey meaning through clothes, attitude, language etc. Something that should be self-evident to anyone over the age of 10 but is often forgotten in the mist of debating. In the end, even if you want to punch me in the face/don't like me, might it be that, with no hatred or malice directed towards you, I am not trying to connect with you anyway?

ps: the first paragraph you quoted was a joke, I wouldn't talk to you because my mom doesn't want me to talk to strangers.

Oh, I agree - swagger, like 'cool' is totally contextual and cultural, even regional. What's swagger to a straight male Texan isn't cool to a bisexual Manhattan woman. Sexual lines are as hard to define as the regional dialect of 'cool'.

But there are undefinable elements of swagger that are timeless and cross-cultural, like Bruce Lee. Or Coltrane above.

Funny too how the West seems to worship this vague Eastern Yakuza/samurai mystique and the East seems to idolize some Western Americana ideal, even if both are stereotypes.

What is swagger? discuss

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