Saturday, May 9, 2020

PLAYING THE DOZENS

My readers are engaged in a version of the old African-American language game called Playing the Dozens.

I love it.

5 comments:

  1. Sorry to stoop to the vernacular... but is this game based upon the refrain: "Yo' Mamma so______, she______"?

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  2. That is indeed a classic form of the Dozens, but it is not the only one. For example, there is "You so ugly that ____ ". Interestingly, a series of riffs in a jazz jam session is also an example of signifyin' akin to playing the dozens.

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  3. I too loved it. Well done all around. My belly ached pleasantly after reading the thread.

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  4. The "Four Yorkshiremen" style riffage was against the background of the recent (12 April) death of Tim Brooke-Taylor, one of the four original authors and performers of that sketch.

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