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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008) |
A mother insult is a reference to a person's mother through the use of phrases such as "your mother" or other regional variants, frequently used to insult the target by way of his or her mother.[1] Used as an insult, "your mother..." preys on widespread sentiments of filial piety, making the insult particularly and globally offensive. "Your mother" can be combined with most types of insults, although suggestions of promiscuity are particularly common.[2] Insults based on obesity, incest, poverty, poor hygiene, unattractiveness, or stupidity may also be used. Compared to other types of insults, "your mother" insults are especially likely to incite violence.[3] Slang variants such as "yo mama", "yo mumma", "yer ma" or "your mum" are sometimes used, depending on the local dialect. Insults involving "your mother" are commonly used when playing the dozens. Additionally, this phrase is frequently used in playful banter between friends.
Although the phrase has a long history of including a description portion (such as the old, mostly harmless insult "your mother wears combat boots"), the phrase "yo mama" by itself, without any qualifiers, has become commonly used as an all-purpose insult[1] or an expression of defiance.
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Use as a retort
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008) |
"Your mother" is also sometimes used as a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or a double entendre retort to either a mild criticism or even an innocuous statement. This often results in a sexual innuendo, as in the following examples:
- Speaker 1: I want to give you something.
- Speaker 2: That's what your mom said to me last night.
- Speaker 1: What's your dad doing?
- Speaker 2: Your mom!
- Speaker 1: What do you wanna do next?
- Speaker 2: Your mom!
The classic "Your mother" joke is a snowclone of the form: "Your mother is so X she's Y", in which "fat", "stupid", "ugly", etc. are substituted for X, and Y is an example, as shown below:
- Your mother is so dumb, she sat on the TV and watched the sofa!
- Your mother is so fat, she has her own zip code!
Sometimes, rather than the X and Y formula, the "your mother" joke can take the form of a metaphor, for instance:
- Your mother's like a bowling ball: she gets fingered, chucked in the gutter and still comes back for more!
It is also used occasionally as a nonsensical retort, as in the following examples:
- Speaker 1: I told you to knock before you enter my room!
- Speaker 2: Your mom.
- Speaker 1: What did you have for dinner last night?
- Speaker 2: Your mom.
Furthermore, in the case of the last example, a clever speaker can also turn a rather feeble retort into a rather feeble assertion:
- Speaker 1: What did you have for dinner last night?
- Speaker 2: Your mom.
- Speaker 1: ...and for dessert?
- Speaker 2: Your mom.
Another instance of non sequitur usage is when the phrase is used as a gag when filling out a form, as when an Albuquerque police officer filled out a criminal complaint listing the "State of Your Momma" as the plaintiff.
In the film Napoleon Dynamite, Deb shows up at Napoleon's door, selling "Deb's Glamor Shots" and homemade boondoggle keychains. She tells Napoleon that she is "trying to earn money for college", to which Kip replies (offscreen) "Your mom goes to college".
Historic usage
Although this may appear to be a recent phenomenon, one can find variants in classical literature.
William Shakespeare used such a device in Act I Scene 1 of Timon of Athens:
Painter: "Y'are a dog."
Apemantus: "Thy mother's of my generation. What's she, if I be a dog?"
Also in Act IV, Scene II of Titus Andronicus, Aaron taunts his lover's sons:
Demetrius: "Villain, what hast thou done?"
Aaron: "That which thou canst not undo."
Chiron: "Thou hast undone our mother."
Aaron: "Villain, I have done thy mother."
In popular culture
"Your mother" jokes became common in North American pop culture in the early 1990s. The Pharcyde's 1992 song "Ya Mama" echoed it.[4] Mexican film Y Tu Mama Tambien's title is an equivalent usage in Spanish ("and your mother too"). There is also a television show Yo Momma (TV series) featuring contestants "playing the dozens". The Australian hiphop outfit Butterfingers released a song called "Yo Mama" that made number 17 on the 2004 Triple J Hottest 100.[5]
In the early nineties, British comedy duo Newman and Baddiel of The Mary Whitehouse Experience added an extra layer of irony to the mother insult by using it extensively in their "History Today" routines in which two restrained elderly university professors debate history seriously until breaking into childish insults, often using the format "See that X? That's your mum that is."
See also
References
- ^ a b Andrew Conway (1994). "You're ugly, your dick is small and everybody's afraid to fuck your mother: The Stand Up Comedian's Response to the Heckler". Maledicta 11, http://www.juggling.org/~conway/juggler/MAL.TXT. Retrieved on 18 November 2007.
- ^ Ayoub, Millicent R.; Barnett, Stephen A. (1965 October-December). "Ritualized Verbal Insult in White High School Culture". The Journal of American Folklore 78 (310): 337–344. doi:, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8715(196510%2F12)78%3A310%3C337%3ARVIIWH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D. Retrieved on 5 January 2007.
- ^ "The mother of all insults". The Guardian Unlimited (2006-06-12). Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
- ^ (1992) Album notes for Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde by The Pharcyde [back cover]. Los Angeles, California: Delicious Vinyl.
- ^ Katrina Lobley (2005-08-19). "Degeneration Y". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
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