"We was playing naked football the other night" : introduction -- "Good story!" : the formal characteristics of male narrative -- "So I thought 'Bollocks to it'" : men, stories, and masculinities -- "Bad as my mate" : stories in sequence -- "She'd made sardines in aspic" : women's stories, men's stories, and the construction of gender -- "I'm quite good at Mexican food" : men's narratives in mixed conversation -- "Still in shock weren't you darling" : masculinity and the heterosexual couple -- "There are problems" : men's talk and contemporary masculinities.