For many years, the United States and Britain have shared a special relationship, but the comity between the nations' leaders is so close that President Barack Obama often calls David Cameron "bro," the British Prime Minister
told The Daily Mail.
"The President has said the special relationship is stronger than it has ever been privately and in public and I agree," Cameron said.
"Yes, he sometimes calls me 'Bro,' " he acknowledged.
The revelation has elicited a rather in-depth discussion in Britain of the meaning of the term "bro" on radio and in print – and not all of it has been positive.
"Cameron is clearly chuffed by this appellation. He thinks it’s a compliment,"
The Guardian noted. "But I’m not entirely sure it is a compliment. Yo, Cameron, before you feel too flattered, I suggest you take a look at what 'bro' actually means." The Guardian noted that The Daily Mail argued using "bro" was "'far better than George W Bush’s patronising 'Yo, Blair."
Noting the classification of bro is "always context-specific," the newspaper notes that the term means skinny brogrammers when used in Silicon Valley, but it is a reference to "frat boys turned investment bankers" when spoken in New York.
"This last point is important: the bro is a pack animal and thrives only in the company of others like himself. The other key point is that the modern bro is usually white; like 'douchebag', the word has acquired a clear racial component," adds The Guardian.
Context was also noted during a discussion on BBC Radio 4.
Nihal Arthanayake, a presenter on BBC's Asian Network, said "It all depends on the context to why you're referring to someone as bro," adding that it does not always refer to a close personal friend.
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Peter Yorke, a social commentator, said he "would only say bro with a very heavy sense of irony."
"It would be a completely ridiculous form of address for a white middle-class person like me," he added.
The "closeness" between Cameron and Obama also created some controversy when the pair
took a "selfie" during the funeral of former South African President and human rights activist Nelson Mandela.
Cameron downplayed the furor over the propriety of taking pictures during the memorial, saying: "I thought it was only polite to say yes" when a member of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock's family asked for a photo, The Independent reported.
In 2011, when Cameron tried to get into a game of ping pong with Obama during a school visit the British leader looked like “the kid who is picked last for PE,” noted
Telegraph political editor columnist Rosa Prince.
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