"Boy Next Door"

I hear this term used so often but I am not sure what it means. I lived in Miami and the boy next door was a hot Cuban kid. I have moved to Argentina and the boy next door is a hot kid who works as a bag boy at the store down the street but doesn't look like the "boy next door" in Miami.

What the fuck does the term mean?

Should we actually use it for a description of any models?

This is the World Wide Web and I am sure that the term is meaningless in this day and age.

Lee

I think boy next door or guy next door is defined as a nicer way of saying "average"... someone who has an attractive look but may not be a bodybuilder or male model type. But they're not overweight or really thin either. Someone innocent, friendly, wholesome and approachable.

But you're right, this "American" term probably has no meaning in other parts of the world.

When I was younger, the "boy next door" was not very bright, not very good looking, and for the most part, totally unattractive. Maybe that is why I like brown-skinned men -- the pasty white farm boys all around me were not appealing, but brown-skinned men were exotic.

Any others?


THE BOY NEXT DOOR
Judy Garland
- words and music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane
- from the 1944 Vincente Minnelli film "Meet Me In St. Louis"
- lyrics as recorded by Judy Garland April 20, 1944 on Decca 23362

The moment I saw him smile
I knew he was just my style
My only regret is we've never met
Though I dream of him all the while

But he doesn't know I exist
No matter how I may persist
So it's clear to see there's no hope for me
Though I live at fifty-one-thirty-five Kensington Avenue
And he lives at fifty-one-thirty-three

How can I ignore the boy next door
I love him more than I can say
Doesn't try to please me
Doesn't even tease me
And he never sees me glance his way

And though I'm heart-sore, the boy next door
Affection for me won't display
I just adore him
So I can't ignore him
The boy next door

I just adore him
So I can't ignore him
The boy next door

I've always understood it to mean that he's a nice guy, kinda of like a Wally Cleaver type kid.

He's not a worldly man, he's not exotic and he's racially, economically, socially like you. It comes from the 50s when people tended to be a bit more xenophobic and nervous of the influx of immigrants from Europe and Asia. There were "black" neighbourhoods, and there were numerous "white" neighbourhoods based on economic and social criteria.

Fratmen types have been described as "The Boy Next Door" so much that in the early days of Fratpad I had a campaign based on it.