I think I know why Madonna and Guy Ritchie broke up. He was too much of a lad.
"The Lad" is strange British specimen. He's one of those anomalies you either love or hate or, in my case, admire from a distance.
I decided to look up definitions for this rather classic, British labeling. Here's what I found in Longman's: "A young man who enjoys drinking alcohol and going out with his male friends, and who thinks he is sexually attractive." Conclusion: three things define the LAD (presumably the secret 4th is that he's from the U.K., cause I've not heard the reference anywhere else other than when people mock the country of Her Majesty.)
Here's my scientific breakdown of the 3:
1) Enjoys Drinking Alcohol. No kidding. I think a recent survey has British men drinking twice as much as British women and that's saying something because I've hung out with a lot of lasses and they drink a lot. As teenagers and at university, according to some recent surveys, they even overtake men in drinking units. Now if lads are Brits who "enjoy drinking" and the English are already statistically known to drink a fair bit, that means the average lad has at least a few pints a night. He may be handsome, but he'll also have a beer belly. Latest news: "Stress driving one in three British men to drink." Uh, yeah, any excuse for a Guinness.
2) Enjoys Going Out With His Male Friends: To the detriment of the female population, actually. Pre-Chris Martin, Gwyenth Paltrow commented on the lame state of "dating" in London: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1404456/British-men-appear-scared-to-ask-me-out-says-Paltrow.html
Much of what this article targets is the culture of males hanging out with only males. It's very uncommon for a man to step out of his group and ask a female out. So basically....yah, the lad does enjoy going out with his male friends...to the detriment of his non-existing female ones AND his dating life.
3) Thinks He Is Sexually Attractive: Sorry lads but is this highlighting your insecurity. Ladies we all know the loud mouth dude rattling on to guy friends about "getting it" is usually a big fat liar. His conversation (and the fantasy behind it) makes up for the lack of "it" in the physical world (!?) Okay, that's a psychobabbled way to put it but what's the old saying take the number of sexual conquests a man says he's had, divide by 2 and subtract 3. Awww, but before I detract my "lovely lads" reading this blog let me say that women are just as bad if not worse. Only (cough, cough) well they're lying the other way around: http://forums.vault9.net/lofiversion/index.php/t5452.html
I do think there's a bullet point missing in the definition of the lad. 99% like football. 99% really, really LOVE football (the British version, that is.) I don't think these 3 traits could be embodied in a British male and...he doesn't like football. Impossible. Impossible i say! But then let's see if you can prove me wrong.
I promise next time I'll give the women some poking.
Happy New Year, lads!!
