With my new found gender knowledge, I decided to do as boys do and join a group of male coworkers for beers after work. They were already a few beers in by the time I arrived (in touch with my female side, I stopped to shop at a few stores along the way) and were to the point where they were sharing stories that only come out after the beer has gone in.
I’d had beers with a couple of them in the past and had mentioned my love for karaoke. “Are you going to sing tonight?” One of them asked and then, before getting an answer, another one interjected. “I remember when we were at that other bar and the DJ told the crowd to advise the waitress of song requests, you told the waitress, “I have a request, I’d like to hear your panties hit the floor.” Male laughter ensues. “That wasn’t me, that was (inaudible) and what he said was, ‘I have a request, I’d like to hear your drawers hit the floor.’ She told him that was a horrible thing to say and he told her, ‘I thought it was pretty good.'” More ML (this time the ‘m’ is squared and stands for maniacal and male) and, most important, a fist bump. Yes, I got in on that.
We then went from drawers hitting the floor and fist bumping to the discussion of the ‘DL.’ Apparently this group of men were all hanging out several years ago when someone walked by and asked, “You guys on the DL?”
Most people know ‘DL’ is the abbreviation for ‘down-low’ and when said, i.e., ‘Keep it on the DL,’ it implies the information should not be shared. Apparently, in some areas of the United States, ‘DL’ is also code for a secret sex life between ‘heterosexual’ black men. In most cases, these men are married, hence the ‘DL,’ which could also stand for double life. “I’ve never heard of any of this until Oprah,” said one of the men, who happened to be both heterosexual and black. “Me neither. As soon as I got home I immediately researched it. Everybody did,” said another one of the men and then added, between so much laughter his eyes were watering, “Do you know what Hispanic men call it? LR. Low riding.” He is Hispanic, so he can say this. I’m now one of the good ol’ boys, so I can laugh with them about it. In addition, I can fist bump and fist bump I did.
After about an hour, one of the men said he had to leave. “Keep it on the DL,” I told him – a DL comment that got a lot of ML. Ah, the life of a good ol’ boy who is really just a girl who once had a paraurethral cyst.