Up here in Manchester it’s exaggerated, like they’re carrying watermelons in their armpits, but in local towns I do see them emphasising every footstep with their shoulders. Does it happen elsewhere?

37 comments
  1. **For specific questions about Manchester, you can also visit /r/Manchester.**

    If you are looking for attractions, recommendations, places to live, eat, drink, or do, [take a look at WikiVoyage](https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Manchester) or [search TripAdvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?singleSearchBox=true&q=Manchester).

    *Your post was not removed, this is just a friendly message*

    *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*

  2. Nope. The watermelon armpit thing is overconfidence from weight training, and the arm swinging is an oasis thing.

    I’ve lived all over the UK, it’s a bit of a Manchester thing.

    Twats.

  3. You ought to see the swagger on wee fannies that stoat about in Port Glasgow

  4. They are compensating. If they could back up their ego with shape, they wouldn’t swing their arms like a fucking orangutan. They telegraph their intentions. They’re really easy to read. Useless.

  5. It happens anywhere people feel they have to exaggerate their muscles and readiness to fight, for whatever reason. It can be a sign of confidence or insecurity, depending on context.

  6. It’s all explained by robertfrank615 in his imaginary lat syndrome video on YouTube

  7. We used to call that “He is walking with invisible barrels under his arms” lol Gladly I never indulged in such a walk/swagger lol.

  8. The Manchester strut needs to go on the UNESCO list of our intangible heritage.

  9. The one that makes me laugh is the ones who do the weird outwards swinging leg walk like they have muscly legs but they look like they haven’t done a leg day ever!

    It always makes me think of this advert from the 90s

    https://youtu.be/WaTRCHbG_IA

  10. I know a guy who in his youth was called “Stu Two Tellies” cos he walked like he was carrying a T.V. set under each arm. (Old tellies mind, this was before the flatscreen revolution). And that was in Scotland, so, no, not English specific.

  11. I’ve seen several young scallies in Liverpool do it. I’ve always called it the urchin waddle

  12. A phenomenon beautifully observed as “that simian stroll” by Elbow in their song “Lippy Kids” from the album “Build a Rocket Boys”

  13. Jeez There’s a 21 yr old I work with that does this.. but only started doing it when he became over confident in the job ( he’s less than six months in, knows fuck all). A colleague asked him last week why he’s walking like a twat, and now he walks like a normal human being again.

  14. A guy I used to work with got nicknamed carpet roll Ste, because he looked as though he was constantly carrying around two rolls of carpet.

  15. In London some of the youth do it, but with a swagger in their walk which looks like they have a limp or some kind of leg injury, I call it ‘The swaggery walk’ don’t think anyones impressed by it at all.

  16. The Manc swagger was more of an 80s/90s thing that the ‘Perry Boys’ did. More a piss-take than anything. Scallys/Chavs whatever you want to call them hunch their shoulders and walk like they’re the king of the estate, when in reality they look like complete fookin goons. And that’s countrywide including Ireland, not just A Manchester thing.

  17. Ah the Liam Gallagher strut cockerel strut. More cock than anything else. They look like the puppets from Jerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds.

  18. It’s actually a social disorder common on young men. It’s called NBPE….

    …and stands for Not Been Punched Enough…..

  19. I used to walk in a bouncy way when I was young, but got insecure from people pointing out that I walked like an unpopular art teacher, who in his defence just never said much and seemed depressed all the time… I was know as Jenkins junior and well the teacher was Mr Jenkins…. Is probably more of a day dreaming or perhaps borderline an autism trait

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like