Who does the phrase refer to?

What does the "dark" part mean?

Quote: (11-05-2015 06:47 AM)WouldBng Wrote:  

Who does the phrase refer to?

What does the "dark" part mean?

Hair.

Whom does this phrase refer to?

The phrase was coined within the white community. Rarely do I hear black, latina, asian women use it. I mostly hear the phrase being used by white women who refer it to white guys with dark features.

The "dark" part is about hair and sometimes eyes with a tan/olive complexion to give that mysterious-like look.

Could you imagine a similar phrase coined by men being used so often and in so many jokes/comments/etc?

Young, thin, and busty

Quote: (11-05-2015 06:47 AM)WouldBng Wrote:  

Who does the phrase refer to?

What does the "dark" part mean?

Little Dark.

I think Dark is referring to "vibe" as much as it is hair/olive complexion.

Think mysterious/aloof/alpha.

http://www.google.com

I read a whole page worth of questions on google.

The consensus is dark hair with a tan complexion.

Here's google images for ya, https://www.google.ca/search?q=tall+dark...geCh2FMwrr

She is clearly indicating a massive penis

Quote: (11-05-2015 10:42 AM)Oz. Wrote:  

She is clearly indicating a massive penis

It's always a shade darker than the rest of your skin..

Dark means mysterious. Tall, handsome, dominant, this goes hand in hand with the image of dark hair.
The more darker, like spain, italy and so on, the less you hear it. In Germany its common, you never hear blue eyes and blond. Thug life for guys like me lol
Anyway, blues eyes and blond hair are seen as attractive outside those fields.

This is simple women speak code.

You can read between the lines or troll her for fun.

The way I see it is that a woman would not spew out "handsome" if she was talking about a bad boy or a thug that would be "dark" in character.

When a woman says "Tall ..Dark.. Handsome" it is defined clearly in her stating that she has preference for olive skin Mediterranean type dudes, but this can also include Latino guys into the mix and Asian dudes with some swagger ('dark' skin means olive or brown, which can be very ambiguous, which is why IMO Latino guys clean up, where some goofy Italian guys can falter in being to sleazy with their game).

If she is hinting this to you and your are not this profile then I poke further to see what she is getting at. This might be a easy way for somebody to get some pussy by proxy.

Lucky for me I always had a bunch of SE Asian or Greek homies who I could then sell her on. "Yeah you should meet my homie, you would like him" .. I make her bring a friend along next time, and me and my homie get pussy that night almost guaranteed.

Quote: (11-05-2015 08:24 AM)Windom Earle Wrote:  

I think Dark is referring to "vibe" as much as it is hair/olive complexion.

Think mysterious/aloof/alpha.

Exactly. I've always doubted it means women have an overwhelming preference for swarthy men, and, that if you asked a woman what they mean by 'dark' in the equation, they couldn't clearly define it.

Given my love of language, and knowing what attracts rather than repels a woman, I'm convinced it comes from the other multiple meanings of 'dark':

- 'arising from showing evil traits or desires'

- 'not clear to the understanding'

- 'not known or explored because of remoteness'

- 'secret'

- 'possessing depth and richness'

- 'closed to the public'

Basically: "That guy doesn't follow rules and does whatever he wants. Why isn't he like the other guys? Does he like me? Or does he hate me? What is he thinking right now? Why can't I tell? I wonder if my friends know about him and can tell if he likes me..."

If you want to turn off a woman, be emotionally-open. If you want to actively-repulse her, be emotionally-needy.

Goes hand in hand with Strong Silent Type.

I remember growing up in the late 90s here in the UK and my Mediterranean friends were absolutely the flavour of the month with women. Tall dark and handsome was all you ever heard on every shitty sitcom, and women would go on about the Italian football team being so much better looking than the English one and shit like that. Now the same friends complain that the massive eastern European immigration ruined things for them and girls aren't so interested in their looks. I'd say there's definitely been a bit of a swing back towards more European looks being popular with women.

   

I remember reading the phrase originally was 'tall, fair, and handsome' until somewhere around 1900s where it became popularly transformed to 'tall, dark, and handsome'. Much later the term was inverted by certain media apparatuses, probably in an effort to sell integration and miscegenation in America, to refer to blacks.

Short, dark, and through your name.

WouldBng

Quote: (11-05-2015 02:13 PM)AnonymousBosch Wrote:  

Quote: (11-05-2015 08:24 AM)Windom Earle Wrote:  

I think Dark is referring to "vibe" as much as it is hair/olive complexion.

Think mysterious/aloof/alpha.

Exactly. I've always doubted it means women have an overwhelming preference for swarthy men, and, that if you asked a woman what they mean by 'dark' in the equation, they couldn't clearly define it.

Given my love of language, and knowing what attracts rather than repels a woman, I'm convinced it comes from the other multiple meanings of 'dark':

- 'arising from showing evil traits or desires'

- 'not clear to the understanding'

- 'not known or explored because of remoteness'

- 'secret'

- 'possessing depth and richness'

- 'closed to the public'

Basically: "That guy doesn't follow rules and does whatever he wants. Why isn't he like the other guys? Does he like me? Or does he hate me? What is he thinking right now? Why can't I tell? I wonder if my friends know about him and can tell if he likes me..."

If you want to turn off a woman, be emotionally-open. If you want to actively-repulse her, be emotionally-needy.

I'm pretty sure it actually refers to physical swarthiness as in olive skinned Meditereannean types because the exact same phrase is also used here and the word 'dark' (it's actually 'black' in literal translation) doesn't necessarily have the same "mysterious" connotations as it does in english.

From my experience, women actually do prefer men with darker hair color and beard or at least stubble. Blonde, clean-shaven men are always seen as somewhat effeminate.

It's important to look at the origin of the phrase, which is a few centuries old.

Quote:Quote:

The earliest use of it in print that I can find is from The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, 1833. It is from a "paper" titled "The Story of Hester Malpas," by L.E.L.:

Hester now looked at her aunt, who was the very reverse of what she had imagined : she had always thought she would be like her father, and fancied a tall, dark, and handsome face.

According to a post found at Wordwizard.com, and as seen in the citation above, the phrase was originally used to describe women as well as men up until the early 20th century (see EL&U discussion here). Also of note, the popularity of the phrase spiked after a movie by the same name was made in 1941 starring Caesar Romero.

http://english.stackexchange.com/questio...d-handsome

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