To stand tall before the Man

Question

What does the idiom 'to stand tall before the Man' mean? What is its origin?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

With "Man" being capitalized, I take it as a reference to ***.

We often toy with the idea of facing our maker at the time of death.

It could mean that we feel we have led a righteous life, have nothing to be ashamed of, and therefore stand proud.

Or it could mean that we're unafraid, and will take whatever is coming to us.

Or it could refer to living a righteous life on a daily basis.

"The man" also refers to any person in authority, such as "the boss," or the person to see in order to get something done. But it would not be capitalized. It's really street talk for a person to be respected or feared. (not to be confused with "my man.")

RayH · Answer

AnonymousWhat does the idiom 'to stand tall before the Man' mean? What is its origin?

You need to provide the context if you want anything other than guesses. If you're happy with guesses then Avangi's are as good as any.

Anonymous · Answer

Here is the context, it's from "Full Metal Jacket" by Kubrick

" COLONEL

     You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and     you wear a peace button. What's that

     supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?!

JOKER

     No, sir.

 COLONEL     You'd better get your head and your *** wired

   together, or I will take a giant **** on you!

  JOKER     Yes, sir. COLONEL     Now answer my question or you'll be standing     tall before the man."

BarbaraPA · Answer

You'll be standing at attention in front of whoever is in charge - you will be in trouble.

However, I have no idea who "the man" is - the colonel is a pretty highly ranked officer, so unless he means the commanding general, I wonder if he does mean ***.

RayH · Answer

Grammar GeekYou'll be standing at attention in front of whoever is in charge - you will be in trouble.

I found a clip of this scene on Youtube

and I'd have to say that the colonel is talking about the next officer up the chain which, since we can see that we're dealing with a bird colonel, would of necessity be a general.

Anonymous · Answer

Actually, the rank of the Colonel grilling Joker is not the problem.
The Colonel is not Joker's actually commanding officer, so he would be intruding on another CO's turf by attempting to punish Joker himself.
He means that he will have the matter taken up by Joker's CO, who will in turn likely have Joker "stand tall" before him.
The origin of the term is what the military refers to as non-judicial punishment, a term delineating it from the far more severe court-martial.
NJP, as it is generically called, is considerably more common than courts-martial, and I saw only two courts-martial during my four years in the Navy, while I saw upwards of one hundred NJP, or as we called it Captain's Mast.

Anonymous · Answer

It means facing a Court Martial. A military court proceeding.

Anonymous · Answer

Standing Tall before the Man means to take the fall without giving up any of your accomplices.
Example; A group(gang) commits a crime. One of them is identified by a witness. When he's arrested he doesn't tell the names of anyone else involved to "the Man"(Police, or whoever is in power)

Anonymous · Answer

You are correct. And to "stand tall" means to stand at attention while taking your lumps.

Anonymous · Answer

I was a Marine and most minor offenses were handled by staff NCOs or your NCOIC. It would be stuff like doing all the *** jobs, being restricted to barracks, etc., but the punishment was off the record as long as you complied it didn't go into your SRB (service record book). Very serious offenses would be tried by court martial. For offenses that were in between there was NJP as has been mentioned. When you were being NJP'd you'd "stand tall in front of 'The Man'".

The Marine Corps has a divergent rank/title structure at the highest levels. E1 to E7 all have the same rank or title, but at this point the enlisted man makes a choice for their next promotion. They can become a Master Sergeant (E8) and upon promotion a Master Gunnery Sergeant (E9). People that take this root stay within their field as technical experts. The other route is First Sergeant (E8) and then Sergeant Major (E9). The people that choose this route leave their field, or MOS, and become something of an administrator. This is considered somewhat senior than the technical route as this job gives direct responsibility over junior enlisted personnel throughout an entire unit (the most senior enlisted man in the Marines is the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps). Depending on the size of the unit it will have either a First Sergeant or a Sergeant Major as its most senior enlisted person, who is known amongst the troops as "The Man" (it's not an authorized nickname, i.e. it's acceptable to address a Gunnery Sergeant as "Gunny" or a Master Gunnery Sergeant as "Master Guns", but you only address First Sergeants and Sergeant Majors by their full and formal rank).

"Standing tall in front of 'The Man'" is standing at attention, six inches and centered, while he takes a chunk of your behind most likely resulting in a Page 11 entry.

Just FYI, commissioned officers in the Marines rarely take direct action in the punishment of junior enlisted personnel, pretty much only for court martialable offenses.

To stand tall before the Man

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