Yo (greeting): Difference between revisions
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{{wiktionary}} |
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"'''''Yo'''''" is an [[United States|American]] [[English language|English]] [[slang]] [[interjection]]. It was highly popularized after being commonly used among [[Italian American]]s and [[African American]]s in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]].<ref name="flappers2rappers">{{cite book |
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| last=Dalzell |
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| first=Tom |
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| title=Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang |
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| year=1996 |
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| publisher=Merriam Webster |
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| location=Springfield, Massachusetts |
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|isbn=0-87779-612-2}}</ref> |
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==Usage== |
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Although often used as a [[greeting]], like the word "hey", it has a wide range of other meanings that depend on the tone, context, and situation. |
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*"Yo" is often used in the [[Southern United States]] as a substitute for the response "Here" to acknowledge one's presence during a [[roll call]].<ref> [http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9309c&L=linguist&O=D&P=3895 4.736 Etymologies: Ok, Yo, Uhuh - LISTSERV Linguist List, 21 Sep 1993]</ref> |
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*"Yo" has also come to be used as an [[exclamation]] at the end of a sentence, either to direct focus onto a particular individual or group, ''"That girl is really hot, yo"'', or to strengthen meaning to a particular point, ''"This hot dog is good, yo!"''. The [[Japanese language]] sentence-final particle ''"[[Yo (kana)|yo]]"'' has approximately the same meaning, but is [[etymology|etymologically]] unrelated. |
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*According to the non-fiction book [[Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets]], "Yo" was a derogatory term for a young black man used by the Baltimore Homicide Department. A young black woman was referred to as a Yo-ette. |
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===Unrelated terms=== |
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In addition to the unrelated [[Japanese language]] sentence-final particle ''"[[Yo (kana)|yo]]"'', there are several other unrelated [[homophones]] or [[homographs]] of '''yo''' which have different meanings and [[etymologies]]. |
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* In the [[Spanish language]], the word for the [[first person]] personal pronoun ''[[I (pronoun)|I]]'' is "yo", but this is completely unrelated to the modern colloquial English [[morpheme]] '''yo'''. The Spanish pronoun "yo", the English pronoun "I" and others such as French "je", German "ich" and Latin "ego" all derive from a [[Proto Indo-European]] [[Proto-Indo-European_pronouns#Personal_pronouns|pronoun]] ''eǵ''. |
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* The English [[Grammatical person|second person]] [[possessive pronoun]] ''your'' is often pronounced in truncated form, such as ''yo'' or ''ya''. This usage has been popularized by the many [[the dozens|dozens]] jokes and snaps that begin with "Yo momma...". These jokes have spread from the urban African American community and now relatively widespread throughout the English-speaking world, taking along this pronunciation of "[[your]]" with it. |
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==References== |
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<references/> |
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[[Category:Italian American history]] |
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[[Category:Culture of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] |
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[[it:Yo (slang)]] |
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[[nl:Yo]] |
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Revision as of 15:06, 22 June 2008
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