Tall, dark and handsome

File:Rudolph Valentino.jpg in 1919. Valentino was a popular target of the term in early American film press.]]

"Tall, dark, and handsome" is a phrase that refers to an appealing man. It originates from romantic fiction produced in the early 1900s.Nigel Rees; Mark My Words: Great Quotations and the Stories Behind Them - page: 564

History and interpretation

According to British lexicographer Eric Partridge, the phrase "tall, dark and handsome" originates from fiction novels produced in the early 20th century. The term was commonly used in Hollywood during the 1920s to describe Rudolph Valentino.L. F. Shitova ; 350 Idioms with Their Origin, or The Idiomatic Cake You Can Eat and Have It Too - page: 130 As an idiom it is both lexically and sequentially fixed.Chitra Fernando; Idioms and Idiomaticity - page: 30 Alan Axelrod writes that "tall, dark and handsome" is often assumed as a compliment, but notes that Eric Partridge wrote that it is actually a mild insult, given the term originates from cheap and cheesy novels from the 1910s; making it an ironic phrase.{{cite book | last=Axelrod | first=A. | title=The Cheaper the Crook, the Gaudier the Patter: Forgotten Hipster Lines, Tough Guy Talk, and Jive Gems | publisher=Skyhorse | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-62873-017-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iz2CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT64 | access-date=2023-10-29 | pages=63–64}}{{cite book | last1=Partridge | first1=E. | last2=Beale | first2=P. | title=A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day | publisher=Scarborough House | series=G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-8128-8536-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2U1q1iVHtAC&pg=PA291 | access-date=2023-10-29 | page=291}}

Studies

David Puts is an associate professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University who has studied the evolutionary bases of human sexuality. In 2017 he was asked if "tall, dark and handsome" is universally attractive in the human experience and he stated that not enough cross-cultural work had been conducted to be very confident in the concept's scientific validity.{{cite web|title=The Science of 'Tall, Dark, and Handsome' Is Extremely Complicated |date= November 20, 2017 |first=Sarah |last=Sloat |url=https://www.inverse.com/article/38515-tall-dark-and-handsome-attraction-science |archive-url= |publisher=Inverse |archive-date= |accessdate=June 30, 2019}}

In 2023, Doxsie wrote that "tall dark and handsome" is essentially a myth, and that the only attribute that is consistently desired is handsomeness.{{cite book | last=Doxsie | first=D. | title="How Tall Are You?": The Pros and Cons of Exceptional Height | publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers | year=2023 | isbn=978-1-4766-4950-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iorAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT13 | access-date=2023-10-29 | page=13}} In India, 'darkness' is essentially erased from the phase, as only tall, light and handsome men are considered attractive.{{cite journal |last1=Varman |first1=Rohit |last2=Belk |first2=Russell W |last3=Sreekumar |first3=Hari |title=Post-Colonial Consumer Respect and the Framing of Neocolonial Consumption in Advertising |journal=Journal of Consumer Research |date=23 September 2023 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=362–382 |doi=10.1093/jcr/ucad063 |doi-access=free }} According to Fluehr-Lobban, the phrase really emphasizes height, because a "short, dark and handsome" man would not be considered appealing.{{cite book | last=Fluehr-Lobban | first=C. | title=Race and Racism: An Introduction | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-4422-7460-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYtSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 | access-date=2023-10-29 | page=26}}

Examples

File:Gandy_by_Walterlan_Papetti.jpg has been often called tall, dark and handsome by media such as Vogue and GQ.{{cite news |last1=Rippon |first1=Remy |title=David Gandy on what it's really like to be one of the world's biggest male supermodels |url=https://www.vogue.com.au/celebrity/interviews/david-gandy-on-what-its-really-like-to-be-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-male-supermodels/news-story/dcbe380a3582ca1203b6676ebdf71987 |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Vogue |date=19 October 2015}}{{cite news |last1=Russell |first1=Chrissie |title=Why women think that David Gandy is the sexiest man alive |url=https://www.independent.ie/style/sex-relationships/why-women-think-that-david-gandy-is-the-sexiest-man-alive-26698307.html |work=The Independent |date=10 November 2010}}{{cite news |last1=Fetters |first1=K. Aleisha |title=The 20 Hottest Male Models on Instagram Right Now |url=https://www.gq.com/story/the-20-hottest-male-models-on-instagram-right-now |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=GQ |date=29 April 2015}}{{cite news |last1=Glenn |first1=Andrew |title=Face To Face With David Gandy |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/viva/fashion/face-to-face-with-david-gandy/4VIDAOM43S4Z7OWZ7HPMQQS6W4/ |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=15 October 2013}}]]

File:Ranveer Singh promoting Bajirao Mastani.jpg, a Bollywood actor, has been called tall, dark and handsome in the media.{{cite web |title=Ranveer Singh, Randeep Hooda, Arjun Kapoor: Actors who define tall, dark and handsome |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ranveer-singh-randeep-hooda-arjun-kapoor-actors-who-define-tall-dark-and-handsome-2854996/ |website=The Indian Express |access-date=7 October 2021 |language=en |date=15 June 2016}}]]

In the 2010s, Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh, Randeep Hooda, and Arjun Kapoor were described by the phrase in the Indian media.

Model David Gandy has often been called tall, dark and handsome in the media. The New Zealand Herald described further that "At 191cm, he's taller than most models and up close - with his dark, almost black hair and bronzed olive complexion - he's like a live version of Michelangelo's Statue of David."

Tall, dark and handsome

History and interpretation

Studies

Examples

See also

References

Further reading