boys will be boys

A phrase of resignation used when boys get into trouble or are stereotypically reckless or rowdy. When my sons tracked mud all through the house, I had to remind myself that boys will be boys. A: "Aren't you upset that they got into that brawl?" B: "Oh, boys will be boys."

Prov. Boys are expected to be irresponsible or boisterous. (Also said ironically about men.) You can't blame David for breaking the window with his baseball. Boys will be boys. My husband can't resist driving eighty miles an hour in his new sports car. Boys will be boys.

One can expect boys to act childishly or misbehave, as in We told the kids not to eat in the living room, but when we got home there was a big mess there-oh well, boys will be boys . This term came from a Latin proverb, translated as "Children [boys] are children [boys] and do childish things." In English it was first recorded in 1589.

You say boys will be boys to excuse the noisy or rough way a boy or man is behaving by saying that it is normal for boys or men to be like this. `Your troubles are just beginning,' they would say, shaking their heads. `Boys will be boys.' The idea that `boys will be boys' — so it's okay to 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. Note: 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.

Children can be expected to act childishly. As might be expected, the observation is far from new. A Latin proverb held, Pueri sunt pueri, pueri puerilia tractant, translated variously as “Children/boys are boys and do childish things.” The emphasis on boys in the English language probably reflects the sexist view that boys are essentially more mischievous and active than girls. The statement appears with increasing frequency in nineteenth-century literature (Bulwer-Lytton, Thackeray, Mark Twain, Shaw, et al.), when it already must have been a cliché.