We don't have many to work with. Watching a "Seinfeld" rerun, we see George Costanza, his "man breasts" visible beneath his polo shirt, and we see ourselves. We wonder why he tucks in those shirts, why he wears them in the first place. Doesn't he know how he looks? We can't believe he's eating French fries at Monk's Diner, or asking for bread from the Soup Nazi.
—Paul Brownfield, "The uncomfortable middle," Los Angeles Times, September 7, 2003

Park Avenue plastic surgeon David Rapaport has an at-home exam for early detection of fat neck syndrome. "Pinch that spot just right under the chin and above the larynx," he instructed. "If that's a fat-necked person, you're pinching a big wad of fat."

The necks of James Coburn and Nick Nolte both delivered Oscar-caliber performances in Affliction, but these necks are, respectively, hangy-gobbly and foldy-flappy, not fat. John Travolta has perhaps the fattest neck in Hollywood, but Mr. Travolta also has a fat belly and fatty man-breasts, which qualifies him as a fat person.
—"Curse of the Fat Necks," New York Observer, January 25, 1999