Date:  Tue, 1 Aug 1995 23:17:58 -0400

From:  BARBARA HILL HUDSON <BHHUDSON[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GROVE.IUP.EDU>

Subject: Re: Your Momma -- Sexual Connotation?



In reference to the use of yo' mama



I agree that the term is shorthand for a longer insult about the person's

mother. In New Jersey and in Chicago where I grew up, it was part of a game

called the dozens which consisted of making derogatory remarks about family

members (especially, but not exclusively the mother). Many of the insults were

in form of rhymes and children would start the game by reciting...

    Now I don't play the dozens cause the dozens too bad

    But I can tell you how many children you mama done had



In any case for most of the children who went to school with me "Yo mama" was

often seen as fighting words, but sometimes the term was used when someone was

acting smart. For example if asked who was buried in Grant's tomb, some smart

a-- would say, "Yo mama." Boys engaged in this kind of play more than girls

did, and when the verbal deuling was friendly, the insults were hyperbolic, but

nonsensical (yo mama wears combat boots).



Barbara Hill Hudson

BHHudson[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]grove.iup.edu