A barrel man or barrelman is a souvenir doll or statuette popular in the Philippines. The statuette usually consists of a crude male figurine carved out of wood, partially hidden inside a round wooden barrel. When the barrel is taken off, the male figure inside is revealed, sporting a prominent phallic protrusion in the lower part of the figure's anatomy.
The souvenir is fairly common in gift shops in the Philippines and is somewhat popular among tourists who may be surprised the first time they encounter the object and lift its barrel.
The barrel man has also been identified as a part of Philippine culture and art, often as the subject of Filipino jokes. In 2005, the Filipino American Network sponsored an exhibit called "Beyond the Barrelman" in Chicago. The event showcased artworks of Filipino artists from North America and the Philippines. The barrel man was also featured in the Filipino-American movie The Debut in 2001 starring Dante Basco.
In recent years, a female version of the figurine has appeared. The surprise is the woman's breasts.
Read more about Barrel Man: Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words barrel and/or man:
“When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them. That is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The first man to discover Chinook salmon in the Columbia, caught 264 in a day and carried them across the river by walking on the backs of other fish. His greatest feat, however, was learning the Chinook jargon in 15 minutes from listening to salmon talk.”
—State of Oregon, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)