Man up is a relatively new term that’s all the rage. All I can say is:  Oy.

I know that it’s intended to be funny. I know that men-are-different-than-women humor has been popular since Eve picked the apple from the tree and gave it to Adam to eat. Such humor has been responsible for careers in stand-up comedy and fodder for countless sit-com scripts. I know. I get it. I know that the man up phrase is the bread-and-butter of the popular morning sports talks show, Mike and Mike on ESPN radio. Every day is a rerun—different topic but the same tired jokes.

I know that the phrase is not used as an attempt to add yet another sexist, pointless term to a language that already has too many such words—that’s just a bonus.

Perhaps I’m the only person in the country who feels this way (based on how often the term man up is being used, I wouldn’t be surprised), but I tire as much of the phrase as I do of the countless times each morning that Mike and Mike refer to the manliness of Mike Golic and the lack of manliness of Mike Greene. Enough already.

By the way, the term lawyer up is not any better, and any other such up words that are waiting to be upped aren’t going to be any better either.

–Paul