I want to know if there is a word for the insults blokes level at each other as an alternative to (gasp!) expressing affection.

A character in a Don DeLillo novel described it as “the stand-up scorn that carries [men's] affections.” You could call it the flattery of scorn, the roast, the rib, the josh, etc.; but what I want to know is, is there a term not for the practice but for a given insult? A colleague of mine always greets me with a term only politely applied to a female dog; and is thereby doing a double-kindness in the twisted world of male affection, since his tag for me is both insulting and emasculating.

Term of besmearment? I know there's a word.

male bonding.

Terms of besmearment is really a nice paraphrase on "Terms Of Endearment". (The Movie) A really nice find . So why bother about the rest?

heh. I'm also amused by WordNet's entry for male bonding:
the formation of a close personal relationship between men; "the rituals known as male bonding do not necessarily involve drinking beer together"

-joe (high five) friday

dozens? to play dozens is to gently, (snarkily!) insult a friend in their presence, and to expect to be insulted back.

dozens

And its Scottish cousin: flyting.

Why thank you BranShea. I just thought someone (perhaps tswum) would know a long and wonderfully silly -nym word for "friendly insult". But maybe I should go with TOB.

"Tobbing is a important mediator of intermale platonic affection."

What do ya think?

chaffing, jollying, needling, etc.

-joe (good to goad) friday

Hmm. zmjezhd--(or anyone really)--not really a word question, but is this a cultural characteristic? i know it is common in irish culture, (and now in Scots) is it a celtic cultural tradition? that has spread --in urban areas--to other cultures?
that the scots have a word for it, and so do the irish..
(i have no idea where the term dozens came/comes from. i just remember "playing" dozens. and that is was common (not just in street life, but at home my parents/relatives did the same thing..

to a point of calling overweight relative's "tiny" or tall ones "shorty" (little jim was one of the taller members of the family (over 6 foot) --a cousin who was a priest was called the sinner.. and so on.

when I LU 'playing the dozens' it seems to apply esp. within families, and is not limited to males. true?

-joe (josh) friday

ASp, good buddy - under the verb 'flip' in OED3 we can see:

2001 Esquire May 146/3 Flipping off a friend, in a good way, a male-bonding way... Our eyes meet, and I give him the finger. He understands completely.

Our eyes meet, and I give him the finger. He understands completely.

It almost sounds romantic, don't it? What freaks we men are.