playing the dozens

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playing the dozens is a phenomenon of the oral culture of African American people .

This is a verbal exchange of blows, especially among growing men, who indulge in ever new insults to the other person, but especially to their female relatives. Typically, in the course of the dozens, increasingly hair-raising claims are made as to which perversions the mother ( "Yo Mama" ), and then, in a further increase, the grandmother of the counterpart, made. Usually this culminates in the vulgar claim that you have had sexual intercourse with the other person's mother or sister. The loser of the dozens is the "player" who at first does not know how to respond. In the meantime the phenomenon has also spread in Germany and is known under the catchphrase Deine Mudder .

origin

The origin of this tradition is uncertain. It has often been suggested that the dozens had an African origin . In any case, there are similar rituals of interaction, in which the insult of female relatives is in the foreground, also in other cultures, especially in the Arab region and also in southern Europe. The dozens are commonly interpreted as a ritual of manliness . An adolescent tries to underline his virility by asserting his sexual power over the feminine and denying it to a rival.

There are various theories about the origin of the term the dozens . Possibly it is derived from the verb to dozen, "to be amazed", which is outdated in today's English . According to another suggestion, the term developed in the slave market of New Orleans , where maimed and weak slaves who could not sell profitable traders, often sold in groups and so were "cheap by the dozen."

literature

  • Roger D. Abrahams: Playing the Dozens. In: Journal of American Folklore 75, 1962.
  • John Dollard: 'The Dozens': Dialectic of Insult. In: The American Imago 1, 1939.
  • Donald Simmons: Possible West African Sources for the American Negro Dozens. In: Journal of American Folklore 76, 1963.
  • Elijah Wald: The Dozens: A History of Rap's Mama . Oxford University Press, New York 2012. ISBN 0-19-989540-6