Machismo

A friend of mine from Japan asked me what the word "machismo" meant when I used it in a sentence. Now there's something I'd never really thought about... what does machismo mean? I guess it means like bravado, another word that sounds good and means little. Perhaps it means manliness, acting out like a man should, there's another loose phrase. Okay then how about brave and strong and powerful, but that doesn't really do it justice either... So I, of course, turned to my good friend Wikipedia to find out what this word actually "means"

The long and short of it is that it is a word originating in the Mexican, meaning:

"2 A man who considers the masculine sex as naturally superior to the feminine, glorifies those traits traditionally ascribed to men and seeks to control and dominate women or to demonstrate his strength, virility, etc., to them [ellas] and to other men: Mexican macho, "Take it like the machos!" 3 Someone who is brave, strong or demonstrates some of the traits traditionally ascribed to men: "I am very macho, sons of the chingada!", a very macha woman 4 A lo macho [in a macho manner] (coloq.) without guile or trickery, with bravery: "Are you telling it to me a lo macho?" 5 A man, specially when seeking to emphasize his sexuality: "He came back made a macho tall and strong..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machismo

So there you have it. LOL!