"Yo mama" joke

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. 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. 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. Slang variants such as "yo momma", "yer ma" or "your mom" 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 this may appear to be a recent phenomenon, one can trace its roots far back in history. Indeed, William Shakespeare utilized 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?"

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 or an expression of defiance.

Use as a retort

"Your mother" is also sometimes used as a sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek retort to either a mild criticism or even an innocuous statement. This often results in a sexual innuendo, as in the following example:

Speaker 1: What are you doing?

Speaker 2: Your face, cos i like it lol.

The classic "Your mother" joke is a snowclone of the form: "Your mother is so X she Y", in which X is substituted for fat, stupid, etc., and Y is an example.

It is also occasionally used as a retort nonsensically; that is, when even though it would not make sense in the situation, it is used, (usually when nothing else can be thought of) as in the following example:

Speaker 1: I told you to knock before you enter my room!

Speaker 2: I told you to knock before you went in my mother last night.

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 popular culture

"Your mother" jokes became common in North American pop culture in the early nineties. The Pharcyde's 1992 track "Ya Mama" echoed it. 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 Yo Momma-affiliated Web 2.0 community YoMomma.tv allows users to exchange mother insults in online battles. The Australian hiphop outfit Butterfingers released a song called "Yo Mama" that made number 17 on the 2004 Triple J Hottest 100.

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

• The dozens
• Fighting words
• Maledicta
• Taunt
• Chav
• Yo Momma (TV series) - TV series