I've seen mansplaining on TV and other media, but never in person. In person I've only seen it used to keep from admitting ignorance. It's defined as "the explanation of something by a man, typically to a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing". It's usually used as a way to claim they already knew something they just admitted not knowing.

Today I woke up to my wife using the drill to put together a TV stand we bought yesterday. We bought two of them and built one last night. She didn't want to use the drill to build the first because "it will strip all the screws" . So I turned the torque down on the drill so as not to strip the small screws (it was making the loud clicking noises for future reference). This morning she decided to build the second and was getting mad that she couldn't get it to stop making the noise (blamed me for messing up the drill), and even said she didn't know what I did to make it happen. I asked if she turned it all the way up, and she claimed she did. So when I showed her I was accused of mansplaining things to her. When in reality I just showed her how to do what she claimed wasn't possible a minute before. I wasn't condescending or patronizing, just asking if she knew it went farther (I had it on 1, and she turned it to 9).

This is the only way I've even seen it used in person. Someone claims something that's not true and you show them otherwise. Instead of just saying "thanks I didn't know that" , it's "stop mansplaining to me, I knew that, it just didn't work for me when I did it". I normally just let her break stuff, and ask for my help after, but today I had just woke up to that noise and hadn't fully woke up yet.

The thing that bothers me is the lack of responsibility. Why is it so hard to just admit you didn't know, instead its always turned to someone else's issue. It never works for her, not because she didn't know, but because things just refuse to work when she tries them. I'm just supposed to accept I perform magic that refuses to work when she tries it. I'm never supposed to explain the magic, just fix it.

I'm curious if anyone else sees this the same way. In media it's typically used as a man explaining something a women already knew in a condescending manner, but never in reality. It's more of a way to get out of thanking someone for an explanation that you just said you didn't know or understand. Granted in my example the best thing I could've done is just fix it and walk away, but then it's something I'm constantly needing to do for her, and I think that's the goal.