For others, it wasn’t just the language, it was the whole topic that was of little interest: “…honestly, is this topic top-of-mind with anyone? Let’s all run away, run away fast and read a good book.”

Others found the topic engaging, or had their own points (and cultural examples) to add:

This is all so new for me!
The first I ever heard of it was when I started the book “Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln.” I couldn’t believe the very close relationships some of these men had with each other. Doris Kearns Goodwin writes about it as though it was completely normal. I do believe that it is a kind of understanding we should open up to once again.
– Ruth

Adding to the “bromance” list: Samwise and Frodo. Is it just my perception, or do ALL male/male pair bonds involve/require a dominant and a submissive personality?
– Mari McAvenia

Have any of you seen Patrice Leconte’s “Mon Meilleur Ami” (My Best Friend). This seems to be a more serious treatment of the subject of male friendship.
– Paul Ford

Tell us what you think in the comment thread. There are plenty of good questions waiting for answers.

Scene from the film "I Love You, Man."

American pop culture and movies are full of male buddy tales that go way back. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby on the road. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — Newman and Redford — on the run. George Clooney and Brad Pitt cracking safes and knocking over casinos.

Male friendship, male bonding, are hardly new. But there’s a new vocabulary in play these days, mashing up male friendship and old-fashioned romance. “Bromance” is hot. “Mancrush.” “Mandate.”

The new film “I Love You, Man” brims with a new kind of buddy talk. So, what is “bromance”? And is something really changing?

Up next On Point: Male bonding, American male friendship, in the age of “bromance.”

You can join the conversation. Are male friendships changing? Loosening up? Mattering more? What does bromance mean to you?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Baltimore, Maryland, is Geoffrey Greif, author of “Buddy System: Understanding Male Friendships.” He’s a professor at the University of Maryland and blogs on male friendships for Psychology Today.

From Montreal, Canada, we’re joined by Robert Heasley, president of the American Men’s Studies Association. He’s in Montreal for the 17th Annual Conference on Men and Masculinities. He’s an associate professor of sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic.

Watch the trailer for “I Love You, Man” here:

The Boston Globe’s Christopher Muther writes about bromance today in a piece called “Man enough for bromance.”

In overall earning power, American women still lag behind American men. But among the young and urban, in some of the country’s hottest cities — New York, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis — young women are actually outstripping young men in take-home pay; some by a wide margin.

It’s those young women who have the cash, the nice place, the hot prospects. And bravo for them. But what about dating the guys they’re leaving behind? Tricky, they say. Young women are now talking about “dating down.”

This hour, On Point: the meeting of the sexes when the woman makes the bucks.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Alex Williams, style writer for The New York Times.

Dalton Conley, chair of the sociology department at New York University.

Marisa, 29, a single corporate lawyer in Manhattan.

Ifey, 31, partner in a New York law firm.