kramus

Every now and then I have this thought about a random guy - usually a stranger, occasionally an acquaintance. I see a guy and have the thought "I could take him".



Usually I am in a situation where mens fancy turns to violence. Say, a street corner at night, or an almost empty subway car where a stranger is lingering in my vicinity. Maybe an ass hat in a parking lot is acting like a social disease. There is an almost unconscious sizing up I do. How big is he, how fit, how does he move, what do his eyes say, does he look batshit crazy or desperate or criminal? And I make the judgment quietly that I could take him. Maybe I look to see what is at hand that could make an impromptu weapon, such as garden stones, fence palings, window glass, my coffee in his eyes . . .

Or I decide that he could wad me up and stuff me in a trash can

Note that I have never been in a fight, so I have no real reason to think this way. I just do.

My Lady thinks I am odd. That it is a quirk of me and me only, that other men do not make such an assessment of strangers. She thinks nobody else runs through this through their internal combat computer. I say she is wrong. She actually asked our neighbor this question yesterday and he told her he doesn't wonder if he could take a guy, but how

So TFP'ers - what do you say? Do you ever wonder if you can take a guy? Stand tall and ululate like Tarzan over his beaten, cowering form? Maybe just put him down and stride off into the sunset? Or is my mental exercise a Neanderthal reaction which most people have grown out of? When your boss or ex-brother-in-law rubs your rhubarb the wrong way do you ask yourself if you could beat him down?

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Zeraph

It's normal for guys I think. Basically I think something similar but with more confidence from experience. When I'm bored I think about *how* I'd take him. Look for weakness, weapons, but all nonchallantly..i hate those idiots that try to stare you down. Go ahead kid, watch me as I pluck those eyes right out of your skull.

Iliftrocks

Only all the time, and not only other dudes, but dogs, tigers, certain trees, large hills ( used to mountain bike ). Testosterone, gotta love it.

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bill hicks - "I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out."

Glory's Sun

oh yeah.. pretty much with any guy I come into contact with.

It's called awareness and being prepared.. not awkwardness

Slims

I think it is a basic part of being situationally aware....Do you also notice possible exits, suspicious people as they approach, sit with your back away from entrances and try to anticipate dangerous circumstances before they happen?

It is no less normal than wondering....would she sleep with me? How should I introduce myself?

Or: I can win that race.

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence

Charlatan

It's normal.

I think we all go through threat assessment. Flight or flight.

I like to sit in restaurants with my back to the wall so I can see what and who is coming.

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

inBOIL

I don't do it so much with other guys, but definitely with animals I come across. Especially the wild ones. I'm half convinced I could take a mountain lion if I had to.

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

FelixP

It's normal. When I go out to eat I refuse to sit in a chair unless I'm with a larger party, in which case I don't want to ruin people's meals by making them wait for a booth to open up. I also look for weapons at hand, their height, how they move, their hands (strong, bony, etc.), their shoes (steel toes, vans, loafers, etc.), and their pants (any giveaway bulge in their pants to reveal a weapon).

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Free will lies not in the ability to craft your own fate, but in not knowing what your fate is. --Me

"I have just returned from visting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world." --Douglas MacArthur

Borla

I had a guy recently look at me and think "No way I can take THAT guy!!"


I was at a Cubs/Cardinals game in Chicago, entertaining a client who was a Cardinals fan. As a White Sox fan, I have no love for the Cubs, so I wore a Cardinals jersey. For anyone who has been to Wrigley, you know what a madhouse it is getting into the Men's room. I was stuck in the crowded line, about 5 wide, when the guy in front of me (who was more than a few beers in) to my left yells over his shoulder (towards me) to his buddy who was just behind me to my right "HEY RYAN!! ON THE COUNT OF THREE, PUNCH THE CLOSEST CARDINALS' FAN!!!"

As he said it, his eyes dropped to my shirt, then he sized me up. Mind you, we were 12-18" away from each other. I am about 3" taller, and carry at least about 50lbs more muscle than he does. He hesitates for a second, then says to me "Exxxxxxcept YOU!" I just look at him and smirk. He says "You look like the kind of dude who could take a punch, then it would NOT be fun afterwards!!" I chuckle and say "Are you having fun?" He goes "yeah, having a good time". I said, with a smile "If you punched me, it would put an end to your good time today." He looks past me and goes "HEY RYAN!! NEVERMIND ABOUT PUNCHING THE CARDINALS' FAN!!" I laughed and said "good choice".

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Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde!!!!

Stare At The Sun

Eh, I don't consider myself a coward, but I'm not a fighter/a violent person. I do however consider myself "above" that sort of thing. Violence, in my opinion, just has no real place in modern society anymore. No real need for it.

In my experience, the only people that get in fights are the meatheads that are looking for fights. You could either go your entire life without getting in a fist fight, or get in a fight every night of the week if you so desired.

I prefer to keep my nose unbroken, and my modern sense of civility intact.

Why men still have that macho "i can take him" bullshit attitude is beyond me. Someone is always tougher and stronger than you, so just get over yourself and stop acting like a fucking caveman.

/rant.

thespian86

It's a survival thing. It happens naturally. Go tell your wife.

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ME: I officially love coffee more then you now.
EX: uh...
ME: So, not much.

Wrexify

I suppose I do the same thing when I'm in a new place, but in my mind I always have super powers and I send the guy flying across the room with one punch / split him down the middle with a karate chop / throw him into the sun*. This probably isn't very useful when sizing someone up, but hey at least I'm confident.

*Note: this has not yet been tested in a real fight scenario.

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kramus

Awesome. I totally get it, even though I was never a mountain bike kind of guy.

Maybe I misrepresented my Lady - she tells me she's more amused at my assessment and how instinctive and pervasive it is - and notes how she has her own evolutionary remnant of response to my male instinct, which is to find it a bit hot I never thought about it until she asked me what I thought of different folks I'd seen or interacted with in the most innocuous settings - and I often had an answer. Yeah, I could take him

It is true that I can check out dogs and situations the same way. Sometimes when a large dog approaches I will adjust the hang of my shoulder bag, or note how to get my jacket off and wrapped around my left forearm. I remember my sensei from way back talking about attracting a pack of feral dogs when he was jogging on a beach in India. He kept them away by taking snap kicks at their legs - dogs depend on their legs. Also heard about guys controlling an animal by getting a shirt/jacket over the head and then either throwing it over a fence or taking it into water.

I definitely see a similarity to the almost subliminal checking out of nubile women. Are they a potential sex partner? Not that there is a real possibility of having sex with whatever women catch the eye and engender the hubba-hubba response, but the checking out does take place. Yeah, I would do her.

__________________
And now to disengage the clutch of the forebrain ...
I'm going with this - if you like artwork visit http://markfineart.ca

Baraka_Guru

I guess I'm not the average guy. I don't do this.

I more like, "I can outfox that guy...."

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Glory's Sun

outfoxing is just your way of saying you use a kick to the nuts first.

Baraka_Guru

Only if it comes to that, my friend.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Atreides88

Kramus, you're definitely not alone, I do the same thing. I'm glad I'm not the only guy who doesn't like sitting with his back to the door. My question, does anybody else ever have their "spidy senses" go off? For example, I've walked into rooms, up to street corners, or while hiking, I get this gut feeling that something is wrong, and while I can't put my finger on exactly what is wrong, my ears perk up, the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and my muscles just tense up.

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"There is no need to suppose that human beings differ very much one from another: but it is true that the ones who come out on top are the ones who have been trained in the hardest school." -- Thucydides

snowy

I don't think it's just a guy thing. I have definitely sized men and women up before, especially in certain situations.

Maybe it's just my secret desire to throw a good punch.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

MSD

Funny how no matter how highly evolved we are, our basest instincts are still fucking women and taking out anyone who might get in our way. Rather than just checking out women, I like to try to inconspicuously try to see if any of them are checking me out. If she turns her head rather than just moving her eyes to continue looking at you and smiles when you turn your head to make eye contact, you'll get her number 95% of the time or more.
I've gotten bad enough "vibes" from people that I've left rooms, moved multiple train cars away from them, and made exact plans for what I'd do if they got violent. I have a general sense of what I'd do in most situations (shooting means get behind solid cover, blunt weapon means I can probably take him down if I'm not directly in front of him or if my brother is with me, sharp weapon means get something big and solid and charge him,) and I've made specific plans in my head in a few instances where I thought there was a serious chance of trouble.
Nobody has hit me first since middle school and I've never had a chance to fight back. I know the feeling, and I think I want to take a boxing class because of it.

Redlemon

I have never done this. However, back when I took the test How Androgynous Are You?, I was tied for most female (until Gilda took the test, iirc), so I'm not a good indicator.

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I can't read your signature. Sorry.

Stare At The Sun

Odd, I can't access that thread. ^_^

Redlemon

As I said, the thread used to exist. I PM'ed a moderator, I'm hoping it comes back to life. I can't think of any reason it would have been locked away.
---
It's back now!

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I can't read your signature. Sorry.

Strange Famous

Sometimes, but not all the time.

Sometimes I feel anger building up inside of me so muchthat my fists burn with violent fizzing pins and needles, my shoulders and jaw clench and feel knotted and like I want to explode. And like you just visualize the feeling of grabbing a pint glass and the exact angle you'd bring it crashing down on the cunts head, then sing it into his face and put him down... it feels like a balance in your mind and in those seconds its starts to tilt towards madness and wildness... and then I guess if you are sane you calm down again.

I dont evaluate fighting every man I ever see but in situations of stress its different.

I do know I have issues with control of my temper that I need to deal with. A few works ago I hurled a half full (plastic) bottle of coke at a transit van because he drove over the pedestrian crossing while I was trying to cross. I have so much frustration in my life and I bottle it all up and sometimes its hard to stop it all just overflowing.

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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Shauk

I wonder what most people think when they size me up. I'm pretty used to the "pass" response though. I had to quit the wrestling team in H.S. cuz people didn't want to practice against me. *shrug*

I mean, gosh, i'm only 6'6" with 260-300lbs on me (i'm seasonal) lol

Baraka_Guru

Ha, good question. I'm sure people look at me all the time and think, "I can definitely take him."

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Jinn

I absolutely do this, even going so far as imagining the course of the entire conflict.. there was an XKCD a few years back that summed it up perfectly for me:

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"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

Iliftrocks

The internal debate generally goes:

( Other dude looks at me funny, or acts the fool )

Hormone guy: "I could kick his arse. Sure he looks like he works out, but look at that pencil neck "

Higher brain function guy: "Nah man, you'd probably win, but you'd get hurt too. Then there's two jerks on the floor bleedin."

Then if common sense prevails:

Both together: "Let's just get a beer and see if anybody else fights. " ( looking for a win-win here )

Rarely ever goes to other options....

The truth is, I couldn't stand worrying about what my Mom would think if I beat the crap out of, well, anybody

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bill hicks - "I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out."

new man

I could take anybody in this thread.

To the person that thought they could take a mountain lion, good luck. I would rather take on a 300lb bear than a 150 lb mountain lion.

lostgirl

You are not alone snowy. I do this from time to time. Sometimes it's because I'm by myself in a dangerous place, and I want to assure myself that I can handle what ever comes my way.

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We're about to go through the crucible, but we'll come out the other side.
We always arise from our own ashes. Everything returns later in its changed form. - Children of Dune

high_jinx

thats how it usually goes for me... i tend to keep my thoughts on whether or not i need to go there more than who it's with. as a habit i like to cut off asshole drivers that think they can wind their way through 2 small lanes on my local streets at 30 mph faster than everyone else. a lot of times at a light they'll pull up next to me at the next light ready to road rage, but then they'll get a look @ me and their internal calculators do some math and they break into a sheepish grin or put up their hands in a "hang loose" or "it's all good".

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-my phobia drowned while i was gettin down.

Xerxys

Jinn, that cartoon was ubercool, I constantly think about that everywhere I go!!

squeeeb

i don't do it with everyone, but some guys have that vibe, and i start thinking "could i take him? how would i?" and i go through the whole fight in my head. minutes later, i'm exhausted, we've had a fight, ive kicked his ass, cops came and said i did a great job and hauled him away, guys bought me beers, some chick was impressed and went home with me, and this guy is just sitting there, oblivious to my existence, not even realizing all this happened.

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onward to mayhem!