Terminology: Man-Crush

This, like a lot of topics here I suppose, is not specific to anything technical. But being in an IT field, I’ve heard the term “man-crush” a lot and find it interesting and fun to talk about

Mostly, I think it’s funny. What changed it from “funny” to “interesting” in my mind, happened at CodeMash this past year (like many interesting conversations that happen outside of the scheduled sessions) when I had to define the term to someone who had never heard it before! Take a minute… think about it… what can you come up with?

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My definition of the term was something like: when you admire someone so much it’s like you have a non-sexual crush on them. You want to talk to them, be around them, and learn as much as you can from them. A “technical crush,” if you will.

Brian Prince at CodeMash had a definition I liked even better: when you admire someone so much you just want to hug his brain!

The top-rated definition on urbandictionary.com defines the term as “When a straight man has a ‘crush’ on another man, not sexual but kind of idolizing him.”

And since then I’ve seen shows (new and re-runs) that have also used the term:

From “Seinfeld”:

“George has a ‘non-sexual crush’ on him, he’s like a school girl around him”

From “Men in Trees”

“You have a man crush!”

“I don’t have a crush on him. I just want to be him.”

If I recall correctly, the reason I brought this up in conversation at CodeMash, was to pose a question for the group to ponder and respond:

Can a person have a non-sexual, “technical crush” on someone of the opposite gender?

I think it’s definitely possible. I believe I have. The group had differing opinions. I recall one guy mentioning a female business partner that, in his opinion, fit that category. Yet another guy had the opinion that with some guys it’s never non-sexual.

Who knows?

I’m curious if anyone else has opinions on the matter. Or if anyone else has any other, better terminology.

• Can a woman have a “man-crush” on a man or would you call it something different?
• “Man-crush” seems to have a nice ring to it, but if a woman admires another woman technically in that way, you can’t really say it’s a “man-crush” right?
• I tried it out, but “woman-crush” doesn’t have the same ring.
• My term “technical-crush” is closer, but I’m not quite sure it captures the meaning.

I would love to come up with a better term that fits multiple admiration scenarios, and captures the full meaning. I’m still thinking.