The dozens

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"The dozens" is an element of the African-American oral tradition in which two competitors, usually males, go head to head in a competition of often good-natured, ribald "trash talk." They take turns insulting -- "cracking" or "ranking" on -- one another, their adversary's mother or other family member until one of them has no comeback. This is called playing the dozens or doin' the dozens and sometimes dirty dozens. The dozens is a contest of personal power -- of wit, self-control, verbal ability, mental agility and mental toughness. Each putdown, each "snap," ups the ante. Defeat can be humiliating; but a skilled contender, win or lose, may gain respect. The dozens is one of the contributing elements in the development of hip hop, especially the practice of battling.

The dozens can be a harmless game, or, if tempers flare, a prelude to physical violence. While the competition on its face is usually light-hearted, smiles sometimes mask real tensions. But in its purest form, the dozens is part of an African-American custom of verbal sparring, of "woofin'" (see wolf ticket) and "signifyin'," intended to defuse conflict nonviolently, descended from an oral tradition rooted in traditional West African cultures.

"Yo' momma," a common, widely recognized argumentative rejoinder in African-American vernacular speech, is a cryptic, and sometimes comical, allusion to the dozens.

The term "the dozens" is believed to refer to the devaluing on the auction block of slaves who were past their prime, who were deformed, aged or who, after years of back-breaking toil, no longer were capable of hard labor. These enslaved human beings often were sold by the dozen. In "Still Laughing to Keep from Crying: Black Humor," African-American author and professor Mona Lisa Saloy writes:

The dozens has its origins in the slave trade of New Orleans where deformed slaves--generally slaves punished with dismemberment for disobedience--were grouped in lots of a 'cheap dozen' for sale to slave owners. For a Black to be sold as part of the 'dozens' was the lowest blow possible.".^[1]

Kokomo Arnold, one of the most popular American blues musician of the 1930s, released a song Twelves (Dirty Dozens) that includes lyrics such as "I like yo' momma - sister, too/I did like your poppa - but your poppa wouldn't do./I met your poppa on the corner the other day/I soon found out he was funny that way." Alternative hip hop group The Pharcyde released a song on their debut album Bizarre Ride II: The Pharcyde entitled "Yo' Mama," the lyrics of which consist entirely of snaps.

In 2004, the Wayans Brothers released The Dozens, a dozens game for mobile phones. The movies White Men Can't Jump, 8 Mile, and House Party include exchanges of snaps. In addition to that the MTV reality-TV series Yo Momma which stars Wilmer Valderrama (of That 70's Show fame) is entirely focused around coming up with, "the dozens" to say to an opponent.

Contents 1 Similar practices in other cultures 2 Playing the dozens 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Similar practices in other cultures

Historically, similar verbal competitions were practiced in other cultures. Ancient Germanic cultures, including the Norse and Anglo-Saxons, practiced a ritual exchange of insults known as flyting, which is similar in function to the dozens. In sixteenth-century Scotland, the term flyting was used to describe an exchange of abusive poems by poets. Arab poets exchanged creative insults in naqa'id, a practice continued in the zajal verbal jousting of present-day Lebanon. Also comparable is the Trinidadian tradition of picong.

In Shakespeare's England insult competitions were common, with professional experts who were known as 'roarers'. Ben Jonson (a contemporary of Shakespeare) wrote a comedy, 'The Roarer', about a foppish young man who hires a roarer to teach him the art so that he can best his wife-to-be in arguments. Some aspects of insults are discussed in the essay 'Lars Porsena, or the Future of Swearing and Improper Language' by the English poet Robert Graves.

Outside of insult contests, the phrase "your mom" is also used as a serious insult or general retort.

Some use "your mom" jokes as a riposte and often a counter-riposte to any insulting statement made -- e.g., "You're an idiot." "Your mom" is an idiot!" Nowadays, "your mom" jokes also are used for statements that have no hostile or pejorative intent -- e.g., "I love to eat ice cream." "Your mom loves to eat ice cream!" Or, they are used as a clever way to skew another person's words: "Ramen noodles are cheap and easy." "Your mom is cheap and easy!")

The word "dozen" in fact has nothing to do with the number twelve; it is a modern survival of an Engish verb - "to dozen - dating back at least to the fourteenth century and meaning "to stun, stupefy, daze" or "to make insensible, torpid, powerless". The object of the game is to stupefy and daze with swift and skillful speech."

[edit] Playing the dozens

In the dozens, derogatory barbs focus primarily on impugning the sexual integrity or intelligence of the target's mother. However, virtually any close relation is fair game.

Yo' momma so fat, when she jumps for joy, she gets stuck.

Yo' momma so old, her Social Security number is 1.

Yo' momma so fat, she has other fat mamas orbiting her.

Yo' momma so fat, helicopters try landing on her whenever she wears a Malcom X t-shirt.

Yo' momma so fat, every time she wears high heels, she strikes oil.

Yo' momma so fat, all the chairs in her house have seat belts.

Yo' momma so fat, her belly button doesn't have lint; it has sweaters.

Yo' momma so ugly, her makeup brand is called, "Why Bother?".

Yo' momma so dumb, she brought a spoon to the Super Bowl.

Yo' momma so dumb, she tripped over a wireless telephone.

Yo' momma so dumb, she died of hunger in the super market.

Yo' momma so fat, she fell down and broke her leg and gravy came out.

Yo' momma so fat, every time she wanna take a bath, she gotta go to Sea World.

Yo' momma panty hose so tight, every time she farts her shoes fly off.

Yo' momma so dumb, she went to a Clippers game for a haircut.

Yo' momma so fat, ugly and old, when she saw Jurassic Park the audience thought it was a 3D movie.

Yo' momma so fat, when she fell in love she broke it.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Avoidance speech (mother-in-law languages)
• Call and response
• Dissing
• Extempo
• Folklore
• Insult swordfighting
• Roast (comedy)
• Mother insult
• Taunt
• Wolf ticketfr:Ta mère

ja:ダズンズ