Tall, dark and handsome
"Tall, dark, and handsome" is a phrase that refers to an appealing man, often found in romantic fiction aimed at women.[1]
History
The term came to prominent use in the early 1900s and was commonly used in Hollywood during the 1920s to describe Rudolph Valentino.[2] As an idiom it is both lexically and sequentially fixed.[3]
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.[4]
See also
- Height and intelligence
- Average height around the world
- Bad boy archetype
- Robert Pattinson
- Cary Grant
- Clark Gable
References
- ^ Nigel Rees; Mark My Words: Great Quotations and the Stories Behind Them - page: 564
- ^ L. F. Shitova ; 350 Idioms with Their Origin, or The Idiomatic Cake You Can Eat and Have It Too - page: 130
- ^ Chitra Fernando; Idioms and Idiomaticity - page: 30
- ^ Sarah Sloat (November 20, 2017). "The Science of 'Tall, Dark, and Handsome' Is Extremely Complicated". Inverse. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
Further reading
- C. Brian Smith (2018). "The Not-So-Attractive Origins Of 'Tall, Dark And Handsome'". Mel Magazine. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Staff (December 15, 2018). "Reasons Why Kenyan Women Prefer Tall, Dark and Slim Men". KenyaSASA. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Rodgers Omondi (May 14, 2018). "Five secret reasons why ladies are ditching tall, dark and handsome men for short ones". The Standard. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Ayoola Adetayo (December 19, 2018). "Do you really like tall dark and handsome guys or you just think that you do?". Pulse Nigeria. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Kingwa Kamencu (April 16, 2017). "Are the tall dark and handsome ones more likely to have it easy and succeed?". The Standard. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Gideon Lasco (November 25, 2016). "No More Tall, Dark and Handsome: Why Asian Men Desire Fairness". The Quint. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Millicent Mwololo (August 24, 2017). "I'd rather have a tall, dark, hardworking man than a handsome one". Daily Nation. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
- Staff (June 15, 2016). "Ranveer Singh, Randeep Hooda, Arjun Kapoor: Actors who define tall, dark and handsome". Indian Express. Retrieved June 30, 2019.