Caught the below article on Yahoo news. For some reason, the idea after the quoted text would not leave me alone. All bolding is done by me, as some of the quirkier entries.
Note I normally hate Yahoo's women centric views on stuff, so I figured I'd use one of their articles for fun.
Dating Question: What Is a Man?
Five essential characteristics that define a real man, according to Esquire's columnist
By Tom Chiarella for Esquire
Updated: Apr 8, 2009
A man carries cash. A man looks out for those around him -- woman, friend, stranger. A man can cook eggs. A man can always find something good to watch on television. A man makes things -- a rock wall, a table, the tuition money. Or he rebuilds -- engines, watches, fortunes. He passes along expertise, one man to the next. Know-how survives him. A man fantasizes that kung fu lives deep inside him somewhere. A man is good at his job. Not his work, not his avocation, not his hobby. Not his career. His job. It doesn't matter what his job is, because if a man doesn't like his job, he gets a new one.
#1. The Communication Style of Man
A man can speak to dogs.
A man listens, and that's how he argues. He crafts opinions. He can pound the table, take the floor. It's not that he must. It's that he can.
A man can look you up and down and figure some things out. Before you say a word, he makes you. From your suitcase, from your watch, from your posture. A man infers.
#2. Man's Ability to Handle Mistakes
A man owns up. That's why Mark McGwire is not a man. A man grasps his mistakes. He lays claim to who he is, and what he was, whether he likes them or not.
Some mistakes, though, he lets pass if no one notices. Like dropping the steak in the dirt.
A man can tell you he was wrong. That he did wrong. That he planned to. He can tell you when he is lost. He can apologize, even if sometimes it's just to put an end to the bickering.
#3. Man's Basic Instincts
A man does not wither at the thought of dancing. But it is generally to be avoided.
Style -- a man has that. No matter how eccentric that style is, it is uncontrived. It's a set of rules.
A man loves the human body, the revelation of nakedness. He loves the sight of the pale bosom, the physics of the human skeleton, the alternating current of the flesh. He is thrilled by the wrist and the sight of a bare shoulder. He likes the crease of a bent knee.
Maybe he never has, and maybe he never will, but a man figures he can knock someone, somewhere, on his bottom.
A man doesn't point out that he did the dishes.
A man knows how to ridicule.
A man gets the door. Without thinking.
He stops traffic when he must.
A man knows how to lose an afternoon. Playing Grand Theft Auto, driving aimlessly, shooting pool.
He knows how to lose a month, also.
A man welcomes the coming of age. It frees him. It allows him to assume the upper hand and teaches him when to step aside.
He understands the basic mechanics of the planet. Or he can close one eye, look up at the sun, and tell you what time of day it is. Or where north is. He can tell you where you might find something to eat or where the fish run. He understands electricity or the internal-combustion engine, the mechanics of flight or how to figure a pitcher's ERA.
A man does not know everything. He doesn't try. He likes what other men know.
A man knows his tools and how to use them -- just the ones he needs. Knows which saw is for what, how to find the stud, when to use galvanized nails.
A miter saw, incidentally, is the kind that sits on a table, has a circular blade, and is used for cutting at precise angles. Very satisfying saw.
#4. The Paradox of Man
He does not rely on rationalizations or explanations. He doesn't winnow, winnow, winnow until truths can be humbly categorized, or intellectualized, until behavior can be written off with an explanation. He doesn't see himself lost in some great maw of humanity, some grand sweep. That's the liberal thread; it's why men won't line up as liberals.
A man resists formulations, questions belief, embraces ambiguity without making a fetish out of it. A man revisits his beliefs. Continually. That's why men won't forever line up with conservatives, either.
#5. Man the Island
A man is comfortable being alone. Loves being alone, actually. He sleeps.
Or he stands watch. He interrupts trouble. This is the state policeman. This is the poet. Men, both of them.
A man loves driving alone most of all.
A man watches. Sometimes he goes and sits at an auction knowing he won't spend a dime, witnessing the temptation and the maneuvering of others. Sometimes he stands on the street corner watching stuff. This is not about quietude so much as collection. It is not about meditation so much as considering. A man refracts his vision and gains acuity. This serves him in every way. No one taught him this -- to be quiet, to cipher, to watch. In this way, in these moments, the man is like a zoo animal: both captive and free. You cannot take your eyes off a man when he is like that. You shouldn't. Who knows what he is thinking, who he is, or what he will do next.
Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.
Now, in canon, Ranma did not know anything of the Seppuku pledge, and only had hazy memories of his mother at all, let alone recognize her. For the purpose of this idea, that could all still be true.
However, either as he is to go on the journey she gives him this as a guide to how to grow up (around when Nodoka is hitting Genma in canon), or he gets it from someone early on from someone important he met (probably a master). Of the two, the first would likely be a bigger impact and is my preferred method.
So... instead of turning out how he does, despite Genma's teachings otherwise outside martial arts, he uses this as his guide for all but the art. When confronted in the manga on manliness... he could pull this out (perhaps tattered, stapled, glued, and taped in multiple places, but still readable) and tell her he can do everything on it.
To add a wrinkle into it... he, not knowing better, takes this *literally* and through his life tried to and eventually succeeded, in doing *all* of it.
I was thinking a Nabiki match, Kasumi might work, doubt Akane would... A Kodachi match as an alternate might be very interesting. With initial distrust on whomever's part toward him.
I could see this being found by Nabiki, and her actually checking into this stuff. Maybe getting a laugh or two, until she realizes this was all his truth and serious to him.
To me... I could see him both with or without a curse... remember, Ganma smashed him into the pool. That is less likely to be changed due to any increased perception, though he might think to ask the guide before jumping with his father.
Less likely... I don't see him making the mistake at The Amazon village to get him engaged. Though something else could occur to get him a bride, if not Shampoo.
Keep in mind... I am *not* talking of a Nodoka takes him on the trip, or goes with them on the trip. I am talking one document, being the only change, sort of like a old style Bet Fic... and watch the change roll through it all.
I've seen possibly two similar stories a few years ago like this. Neither were this exact idea, but close. The first was a single AA thread that was sadly not continued. The other was a story a few chapters long. I think it was Honorable Man, or some such.
I would not mind writing this... I would fail miserably at it though.
Note1: This was cross posted on both Temple of Ranma's Seifuku (fukufics), on Be Your True Mind Forum (BYTM), and on The Fanfiction Forum (TFF).
Note2: If anyone uses the idea, I would appreciate being notified of it, where at, and a honorable mention in the story itself of that fact.
