superbad

Psychologist Joseph Pleck found that these are the characteristics of masculinity in our society: displaying high status in one’s social group; exhibiting toughness and self reliance; aggression, violence, and daring; and avoiding anything associated with femininity.
Sociolinguist Deborah Tannen described male speech as “report talk,” where men try to establish and maintain their status through communicating. Each male wants to put themselves in center stage during the conversation, so male communication is a verbal battle of king of the hill; each male is trying to usurp the others to get to the top.

Fogell: Yo guys! Sup?
Seth: Fogell, where have you been, man? You almost gave me a goddamn heart attack. Let me see it. Did you pussy out or what?
Fogell: No noooo, man. I got it; it is flawless. Check it!
Evan: [examining the fake ID] Hawaii. All right, that's good. That's hard to trace, I guess. Wait... you changed your name to... McLovin?
Fogell: Yeah.
Evan: McLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that, Fogell? What, are you trying to be an Irish R&B singer?
Fogell: Naw, they let you pick any name you want when you get down there.
Seth: And you landed on McLovin...
Fogell: Yeah. It was between that or Muhammed.
Seth: Why the FUCK would it be between THAT or Muhammed? Why don't you just pick a common name like a normal person?
Fogell: Muhammed is the most commonly used name on Earth. Read a fucking book for once.
Evan: Fogell, have you actually ever met anyone named Muhammed?
Fogell: Have YOU actually ever met anyone named McLovin?
Seth: No, that's why you picked a dumb fucking name!
Fogell: Fuck you.
Seth: Gimme that. All right, you look like a future pedophile in this picture, number 1. Number 2: it doesn't even have a first name, it just says "McLovin"!
Evan: What? One name? ONE NAME? Who are you? Seal?
Seth: Fogell, this ID says that you're 25 years old. Why wouldn't you just put 21, man?
Fogell: Seth, Seth, Seth. Listen up, ass-face: every day, hundreds of kids go into the liquor store with fake IDs, and every single one says they're 21. Pssh, how many 21 year olds do you think there are in this town? It's called fucking strategy, all right?
Evan: Stay calm, okay? Let's not lose our heads. It's... it's a fine ID; it'll... it's gonna work. It's passable, okay? This isn't terrible. I mean, it's up to you, Fogell. This guy is either gonna think 'Here's another kid with a fake ID' or 'Here's McLovin, a 25 year-old Hawaiian organ donor'. Okay? So what's it gonna be?
Fogell: [grinning] ... I am McLovin!
Seth: No you're not. No one's McLovin. McLovin's never existed because that's a made up dumb FUCKING FAIRY TALE NAME, YOU FUCK!

In this scene, Fogell, Seth, and Evan are constantly trying to one-up each other. Evan asks Fogell “did you pussy out or what?” What he means by this is, did you chicken out? He phrases it that way to make sure that Fogell knows that chickening out is only worthy of the worst of insults. The word pussy ties it to something feminine, aka, something humiliating. When he assures them that he did not chicken out, Seth and Evan start to make fun of the name that Fogell has chosen, “McLovin.”

Fogell tries to explain his plan to the guys, trying to prove that he is smarter than them, while they shoot him down. They tell him that he chose an uncommon name; Fogell counters with the fact that he almost chose Mohammed—the most common name on earth. Seth and Evan tell him that he will not pass for a 25 year-old, he says that everyone’s fake i.d. says that they’re 21, so his will look more authentic. At the end of the conversation Evan is trying to convince himself that everything is still going to work out, but Seth ends the scene by yelling that there is no McLovin because it is a dumb fairy tale name, another feminine reference to insult Fogell.

In this conversation there is a lot of name calling that would result in tears among many girls, but with these boys the conversation keeps going, as if to say that name calling is not that out of the ordinary. As they continue talking, the conversation gets more heated and they talk louder and louder, each trying to establish their place at the top of their social group and prove that they are correct above the others. They exhibit toughness by cussing each other out and trying to make themselves feel stronger than the other two.