"Yo mama" joke
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 An example of a "Yo mama" joke in English. | |
| Alternative name | Maternal insult |
|---|---|
| Target of joke | Mothers |
A "yo mama" joke 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 their mother.[1] Used as an insult, "your mother..." preys on widespread sentiments of parental respect, making the insult particularly and globally offensive. "Your mother" can be combined with most types of insults, although suggestions of promiscuity and/or obesity are particularly common.[2] Insults based on height, hairiness, laziness, incest, age, race, poverty, poor hygiene, unattractiveness, homosexuality, 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 momma", "yer ma", "yer mum", "ya mum", "ya mom", "ur mom", "your mum", "ur mum", "ur mother", "Joe Mama",[a] or "your mom" are sometimes used, depending on the local dialect. Insults involving "your mother" are commonly used when playing the Dozens.
Although the phrase has a long history of including a description portion, such as the old "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.
Historic examples
The first maternal insult written was written on a 3,500-year-old Babylonian stone tablet, written in Akkadian, with cuneiform as writing system. The tablet was found in 1976 by an archaeologist named J.J. van Dijk. The tablet was most likely written by a student, because it has multiple spelling and grammar errors. The tablet also contained multiple riddles and more jokes. Scholars Michael Streck and Nathan Wasserman studied the tablet and published their research and translations in the journal Iraq, put out by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq. Streck and Wasserman's translation of this particular joke reads, "…of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her. What/who is it?" Other riddles included topics like beer, sex, and politics.[4]
Jokes of the "yo sister" type have also been around for centuries. For example, here is a translation of a short verse by the 14th-century Egyptian poet Ibn Nubata, from the Mamluk era:[5][6]
Original: يقول لي من لا درى حالتي / أراك قد غبتَ عن العشرة / لعل مولانا بكس خلا / قلت نعم كس أخت ما أكره
English translation: And would say he who knows nothing about my state / "You have been quite detached from all the company. / Has his Majesty been screwing some pussy secretly?" / I said: yes, the sister's pussy of what I hate!
William Shakespeare used such a device in Act I Scene 1 of Timon of Athens, implying that a character's mother is a "bitch":
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 Shakespeare's 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."
An anti–Andrew Jackson newspaper said this of his mother:[7][dubious – discuss]
"General Jackson's mother was a common prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers! She afterward married a mulatto man, with whom she had several children, of which number General Jackson is one!!!"
— Cincinnati Gazette, Charles Hammond
See also
- Fighting words
- Flyting – related historical practices
- Grass Mud Horse
- Maledicta
- Maledictology
- Motherfucker
- Russian mat
- Dad joke
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: 34–46. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
- ^ Millicent R. Ayoub and Sephen A. Barnett (October–December 1965). "Ritualized Verbal Insult in White High School Culture". The Journal of American Folklore. 78 (310). American Folklore Society: 337–344. doi:10.2307/538441. JSTOR 538441.
- ^ Jeffries, Stuart (2006-06-12). "The mother of all insults". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- ^ Deron, Bernadette (2018-08-02). "This 3,500 Year Old Tablet Has History's First 'Yo Mama' Joke". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
- ^ al-Masri, Ibn Nubata. ديوان ابن نباته المصري.
- ^ "The full ديوان ابن نباتة (Diwan ibn Nabata)". Arabic Wikisource. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ^ Remini, Robert V. (1966). Andrew Jackson. New York: Twayne Publishers. p. 13. LCCN 66-16124.
Explanatory notes
- ^ In this case, "Joe mama" is used without a punchline or further elaboration, with just it and nothing attached to it. It uses "Joe" to replace the word "yo" (slang for your), and became a popular internet meme in the late 2010s.