n. The tendency for some men to answer a question even when they don't know the answer.
1997
And Hackett may discuss "Male Answer Syndrome," the sex-linked compulsion to answer any and all questions whether or not one has an answer.
1992
Try an experiment. Ask a male friend a question, something completely outside his sphere of expertise.
Will you get an answer? Chances are, you will. The male friend is exhibiting behavior known as Male Answer Syndrome. It's the compulsion by many individuals (mostly men, but sometimes women) to answer questions readily, regardless of knowledge.
Will you get an answer? Chances are, you will. The male friend is exhibiting behavior known as Male Answer Syndrome. It's the compulsion by many individuals (mostly men, but sometimes women) to answer questions readily, regardless of knowledge.
1989 (earliest)
The inability of the American male to respond "I don't know" to a question has been dubbed by its discoverer Male Answer Syndrome. Wall Street — as well as the computer industry — is rife with sufferers of MAS. Can this dread affliction be treated?
Reader David Chase passes along an earlier citation:
Sam Hurt, The Mind's Eyebeam, pp 71-72, 1986. He, in turn, credits David Stansbury in the margin of the comic.Reader Alex Moss concurs:
I first heard the phrase "Male Answer Syndrome" in "Eyebeam," a comic strip at UT (University of Texas at Austin) in the mid-1980s. I couldn't give you an exact date for this particular coinage, but if memory serves me, the phrase was introduced by Eyebeam's girlfriend Sally — she accused him of suffering from "MAS," he asked what that is, and the rest is history. I would actually post it on your site under "MAS." Your post is dated 1998, though the citation from the Seattle Times itself doesn't have a date on it, perhaps it's older. Anyway, the author of the comic is Sam Hurt, I don't know him but here's his home page:
http://www.samhurt.com/