(Well yes, men’s bodies, and lots of gay innuendo, but nothing to frighten the horses.)
Headline in The Gaily Male:
“How Giacomo ‘Giacco’ Giaccone’s
SuperSnapJock made me into a sniveling bitch”
(#1)
Big
Jimmy ruled the
Gym with a thumb of
Steel – one
Snap of his
Strap made the
Strongest man
Kneel
Big Jimmy’s in a Timoteo 84 Jockstrap in black. Here’s his younger brother Little Jake (also delicious, but much less threatening), in a Timoteo Shadow Jockstrap in black/red:
(#2)
#1 came from the Daily Jocks people yesterday, with this (unusually staid) ad copy:
Timoteo underwear, swimwear and sportswear has grown into an internationally recognised menswear brand. a go-to-brand around the globe for stylish men. Known for their exceptional fit, quality and cutting-edge designs.
Two earlier postings on this blog about Timoteo, a name I like to think of as meaning ‘fear of God’ (Latin verb timere ‘to fear’ and noun timor ‘fear’, plus Greek theos ‘god’; yes, I know, the name Timothy / Timoteo / Timothée / etc. actually has Greek timao ‘to honor’ as its first element):
a posting on 7/11/13 “Steve Grand, DNA, Timoteo”: “The Timoteo line [of menswear by Timoteo Ocampo] is deeply devoted to men’s bodies, especially their crotches.”
a posting on 4/10/16 “Magnitude Boys”, with two shots of the Timoteo Magnitude jock in red, white, and blue
On Big Jimmy’s Italian names:
Giacomo [James] > nickname Giacco [Jim(my)] > augmentative Giaccone [Big Jim(my)]
(or Jacob for James and Jake for Jim).
Big Jimmy’s gym is called Rip Rep Rap City. The rip is simple; note the ripped bodies above. (Rip Rep Rap City is definitely Hunkytown.) But rap and rep come from the black dudes in Giacco’s crib: from the rap music that plays non-stop at the gym, especially the local favorite, “(I be) Reppin My City” performed by Brisco, Triple C, & Rick Ross, from Ross’s Trilla (2008). (You can listen to it here.) The slogan on a t-shirt:
(#3)
On the verb rep in Green’s Dictionary of Slang:
(US black) to represent [first cite 1977]
Represent can here convey quite a range of meaning: ‘stand for’, ‘front for’, ‘stand up for’, ‘be a credit to’.
Advanced note for the sound-inclined: rip rep rap has a series of three lax (and open) front vowels /ɪ ɛ æ/ descending in height — and with descending frequency of the second formant, giving the perceptual impression of a descent in pitch and a synesthetic impression of an increase in size (so, getting lower and bigger, in steps). The series continues with /a/ and /ɔ/; in my American variety, I have the whole series in big/dig beg bag bog dog (but other dialects have quite different phonetics).
