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Saturdays are for the boys: An origin story

By Haley Jena, Guest Columnist

Instagram captions, Facebook comments, the mouths of frat stars and beyond -- you've probably seen or heard this infamous mantra a couple (hundred) times. Five words embellishing the battlecry of a college day-drinker: "Saturdays are for the boys."

The phrase appeared and exploded almost overnight. But where did it come from?

The alleged origin is a Tweet posted by Twitter user @FeitsBarstool, also known as Barstool Sports blogger John Feitelberg.

Feitelberg tweeted on June 10, 2016: "'FRIDAYS ARE FOR THE MEN, SATURDAYS ARE FOR THE BOYS' -- some old guy just yelled that, it makes no sense, but I love it." The supposed older man probably had no idea the weight of his declaration at the time.

This summer, the slogan became more and more popular come each warm and sunny Saturday. Upon moving back to campus in the fall, my Instagram timeline (and I'm guessing yours, too) has drowned in SAFTB captions.

Sophomore Chris Arihilam thinks the expression is all in good fun.

"I've never used the phrase before, but I think it links people together. It builds morale within friend dynamics," Arihilam said. "Honestly, if you take away the somewhat pretentious aura from the term, then it's actually a great way to make friends and create connections with others from a social perspective. Or maybe it's just a really good way for drunk people to make friends."

But it's not just your typical college student who's boasting the motto. In August, New York Giants offensive guard Justin Pugh posted a video on Instagram of a video filled with disorder and craziness, featuring pool sticks snapping in half and a slow-mo shot of a baseball cracking a TV screen. Guess what the caption featured? "#SaturdaysAreForTheBoys."

There's even an entire account dedicated to the movement, @saturdaysare4theboys, featuring videos of similar chaos, usually submitted by college-aged men.

The exact meaning of the expression is a tad blurry. Perhaps Saturdays are for the boys (and girls, too!) because we have nothing better to do on a lazy afternoon then drink with friends. Perhaps it suggests a younger age group simply doesn't like Fridays as much as an older crowd. Or, perhaps it has no meaning at all and exists as popular, crowd-pleasing slang (remember "YOLO"?).

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If you ever find yourself wracking your brain for a clever Instagram caption this Saturday, consider using a version of this popular phrase before it becomes -- literally -- so yesterday.

jenahm@miamioh.edu