Manly Know-how
 

OK, a personal confession: I don't know how the fuck to do ANYTHING around the house. I couldn't repair any appliance, fix any car, or install absolutely anything. And, frankly, I don't know how it seems that everyone else around me has learned. Not just the father-figures, but people my age (~20) being able to do something like fix a leaky faucet. It's also somewhat emasculating for your girlfriend to know how to do ANYTHING to her car while you stare dumbfounded.

Has something changed that made us a bitch generation? Are YOU knowledgable regarding the fine art of home repair? If so, how did you learn this seemingly instinctual skill? And is there anyone but me who seems destined to hiring a repairman?

Car repair I'm pretty clueless on, but I can pretty much do any around the house stuff. I suppose I just picked it up as I went along.

My dad made it his sole mission in life to train me in the ways of being a good husband...but all I can remember is changing the oil in my car, testing the brakes, and installing any piece of technology without the use of an instruction manual...hmmm

My boss makes me hook up all kinds of technological stuff without the manual. Most of the time, you can find the little pictures and look at the plug-ins to see if it works or not. I become very nervous when I have to do it even though most techies probably don't see it as a big deal.

I'm probably destined to call my father or some other person when it comes to tool-related stuff. I can do the little stuff such as hammer, tighen things with a wrench, and use a few power tools. I can also build flats and stairs and other simple things relating to theatrical design. However, the big things such as fixing a toilet that doesn't have an adjuster or rerouting electrical wiring I'll have to call a repair person for.

I could probably fix anything electrical. But I'm clueless with cars. I also know how to do alot of the "non-manly" stuff... -_- like cooking and washing. Hey, I have to do all this stuff myself, quit giving me those dirty looks.

I don't know how to do anything practical besides clean. My father took off when I was two and my mother has never bothered to show me how to do anything. I don't plan on ever owning a home or having kids, though, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I can't do electric stuff but I can do technological stuff with no big deal. I managed to make my bookshelf with the instructions. I can't really do woodworking on my own or electrical stuff, but maybe I'll pick it up with time. Electrics seems fun, you can make lots of neat stuff with it.

It's okay if your girlfriend knows more about cars than you do, because she has to ask you for help whenever her computer breaks down.

I can do minimal shit in all regions, really. Mostly because I don't know the actual standards for putting up a wall (16 inches in betwen 2x4s, I think?), laying sheetrock, et cetera.

I could not be relied upon for setting anything electrical into a home, but I can fix my own electronics - just not stringing shit up.

As far as the car is concerned, I can almost ALWAYS pinpoint the problem - fixing it is an entire new ball game, since I don't know the steps to go through to get there. But I am pretty car-savvy. Thanks Dad.

Alot of around the house problems can be solved if you just think through them. You dont need special training to fix faucets, or the like. You just gotta anaylze the problem and go piece by piece.

I worked in a hardware store during high school and my first couple summers between college. So, I know how to do most general house repairs now. I couldn't make an addition to a house or build something from scratch, but if something goes wrong, I could probably fix it. It's really not that hard though, even though it may look it. Once you figure out which tools match up with which things, things get a lot easier. You just pull out the corresponding tool for the broken part and fix away.

If you have a father, you could always ask him. I'm sure he'd be delighted to both teach you something useful and spend some quality time with you. You're obviously not going to learn anything on an internet forum, so at the very least you could buy a DIY home repair book.

If you feel particularly daring, just start taking shit apart and putting it back together.

I can assemble simple desks and shelves without reading the instruction manuals. I put together about four or five pieces of furniture when I was fourteen or fifteen that are still at my parents' house.

I know how to change the oil in my car as well, but I typically have a car shop do the job for me now.

Part of it is about being willing to give things a go. You aren't born with inherent knowledge of these things so you have to find them out, discover, play and what-not, either by doing so for yourself or from someone like your dad, mum, grandad, fake uncle 'Jim' or whoever. To be honest I think it's just male pride that makes anyone think they absolutely must know this stuff and I don't think there's any shame in not knowing how to fix a car or what-not, everyone has areas they're good with and others they're not.

Well, most of the furniture in my home is from flat-packs that I assembled myself. I just got through repairing a cupboard in the kitchen that wouldn't open right, and I can do most of the really basic stuff around the home.

Much like Sass, I wouldn't dare to touch the mains electricity circuits in the home, but I have been known to fix minor faults on appliances. I also wouldn't dare to touch anything that runs on natural gas, because I'm not keen on blowing things up.

I've got a pretty decent level of manly knowledge, but I'm not sure where I got it from. My dad, in his younger days, was apparently banned from possessing power tools by my mom, due to the chaos he could create with them.

Right there is the whole problem, I think. Dads are running away from their families or just being emotionally absent. Think about it...how many true "family men" do you know?

I think this also explains why so many men these days are just pussies in general. It's because they've been raised by women.

I know my father is an avid "family man." Maybe it's because he's European, but I have yet to find an American family who is as tightly knit as the European/Arabic ones I've come across.

It's a strange thing to see people of a nuclear family coming home at 5 or 6 or whatever and WHILE the kids are there, everyone grabs the fast food which one of the parents brought home and everyone scatters.

I am TERRIFIED I will become a mother who allows that.

God, I could hug you for that.

And I could hug you right back for your entire post. People don't spend any time with their kids, and then they wonder why little Johnny turned out to be a 35-year-old screw-up who can't change his own flat tire.

I have that in reverse. I was raised by a man and had to learn how to do all the girl things on my own. Still to this day, sometimes I feel like other women look down on me for not being feminine enough and not taking good enough care of my hair or something.

My skills are pretty steady across the board, gender wise, but I want to learn how to do more man stuff so that I don't have to rely on somebody to fix embarrassingly minor stuff for me.

+1 - My dad didn't know anything about mechanics when he started to farm/ranch but he learned as he went. And anyone who has farmed/ranched (I'm not talking on a hobby farm) knows the importance of mechanics. I don't think it's that we haven't been "taught" so much as we aren't a "self-reliant." We just need to rtfm a bit more. ;)

We need to read more Ralph Waldo Emerson... At least we have self-check at the grocery store now; that's more self reliant isn't it? :D

Oddly, I'm often asked if there is anything I can't do..heh. My usual answer to that is I can't cook for beans =p. I think alot of the "know-how" portion of going about a task has much to do with self confidence and knowing where to learn it. I think my parents taught me that.

As for what kind of skills I have I'm pretty proficient in fixing toilets, cars, TVs, coffee tables, computers, networks, and now babysitting to name a few ._.
Then again I am a electronics technician.

:( Little Johnny didn't MEAN to be a screw-up.

My father was raised only by his mother, which explains why he has absolutely no idea how to handle his children. I guess that makes sense a lot of times.

I guess that for people who don't know, it's time to crack-open the how-to book.

Bingo.

My dad works 6am=>7pm every day, on occasion getting a Sunday off. He's a farmer, so his knowledge is pretty extensive in a number of fields. Father-Son learning was rather nonexistent, since I'm not an only child. Mom was always busy, dad was always off at work, etc.

My ability to be a handyman of sorts kicked in around when I was 16 and I got my first job. Had to do some tinkering and minute electrics. Now I'm able to weld, solder, and assemble things quite nicely, whether it be wood or metal. I have a pretty damn extensive knowledge on tinkering in general. But car repair is where I'm lacking. You could tell me to take off old Part A and replace it with a new Part A. I can do that. I can maintain all the fluids. But if you hear some rattling or some bad response on the car and ask me to tell you what it is, I only have a handful of things I could guess.

To be honest, I've never had to change a tire. Never been on a road trip and been unfortunate enough to experience a blow-out. Gonna have to ask my old man about that.

My general know-how comes from years of curiosity, absent parents, and household disasters which occured with distressing frequency.

Like the time the water pipes in the basement froze, then thawed and burst in three places. My sister's bedroom roof melted in and started pouring water all over the room. I found the pump and shut it off, then clamped the pipe until I could fix it. Promptly I resorted the best source of knowlege there is (the internet) and discovered that epoxy resin and newspaper would make a good semi-permanent splint. It holds to this day. Shit like that happened all the time.

Part of it is having the personality that feels completely confidant that the solution to your problem is both obtainable and doable given the proper effort.