boys will be boys

People say 'boys will be boys' when they want to excuse the noisy or rough way a boy is behaving by saying that it is normal for boys to be noisy and rough. This expression is also used to comment on similar behaviour in adult men.

'Your troubles are just beginning,' they would say, shaking their heads. 'Boys will be boys.'

The idea that 'boys wilt be boys' - so it's okay to smoke and drink too much and do dan­gerous things with little regard for personal safety - has to change if we are to see any im­provement in the death and disease statistics for men.

◇ You can talk about a boys will be boys at­titude or situation.

He is not some showbiz celebrity or soccer star whose private misdemeanours can be shrugged off with a 'boys will be boys' attitude.

one of the boys

If you describe a man as one of the boys, you mean that he is accepted as belonging to a group of men who behave in ways which are considered typically masculine. People sometimes describe a woman as being one of the boys when she behaves in a way which allows her to be accepted as part of a group of men. Compare one of the lads; see lads.

His overly enthusiastic efforts to seem just one of the boys were sometimes embarrassing.

If she played at being one of the boys she was condemned for being unwomanly. If she didn 't join in she was seen as aloof.