Go [name], it's your birthday

Ed Keer edkeer at YAHOO.COM
Fri May 17 20:03:17 UTC 2002


I'm not sure. I thought it was a lyric of "U can't
touch this", but I couldn't find it in there. I have a
friend who used to say this all the time. Every time
she sort of sang it with a melody that made me think
of MC Hammer or some other early 90s pop rap.

Sorry I can't be of more help...

--- Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
> I don't know what the MC Hammer connection is
> exactly. Lyric? If so, which
> song on the album? Or is it just from the album
> title?
>
> I found another, slightly different, Usenet usage
> from about six months
> earlier: "Ooo...you go girl!  It's your
> birthday..."; From: Timothy J.
> Kurnik, 6967 (kurnik at lds.loral.com), Subject: Re:
> HELLO?, Newsgroups:
> alt.kids-talk, Date: 1993-09-20 06:37:29 PST.
>
> There are lots of hits associated with "get busy,"
> but no earlier ones.
> Clearly that's a common variant.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society
> > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> > Of Ed Keer
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 12:17 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Go [name], it's your birthday
> >
> >
> > I always thought the phrase was "Go [name], don't
> hurt
> > 'em", but a quick check on google shows it's
> "Please
> > [name], don't hurt 'em" from the MC Hammer CD
> (back to
> > the wayback machine) "Please Hammer, don't hurt
> 'em"
> >
> > Still, could they be related?
> >
> > Ed
> >
> >
> > --- Drew Danielson <andrew.danielson at CMU.EDU>
> wrote:
> > > Dave Wilton wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I'm wondering about a catchphrase that I've
> seen
> > > from time to time, in
> > > > movies and TV and occasionally used by people
> I
> > > know. "Go [name], it's your
> > > > birthday! Go [name], it's your birthday." The
> > > phrase is delivered in a
> > > > sing-song patter, often accompanied by
> rotating
> > > arm movements. The phrase is
> > > > not just used to acknowledge a birthday, but
> > > rather any time there is
> > > > something to celebrate or the named individual
> has
> > > done something worthy or
> > > > notable.
> > > >
> > > > The most famous appearance that I've found is
> in
> > > the 1999 movie, _American
> > > > Pie_: "Go trig-boy, it's your birthday."
> > > >
> > > > The furthest back I've been able to trace it
> is a
> > > 1994 Usenet post: From:
> > > > DarkStarr (p00838 at psilink.com), Subject: Re:
> > > Extremists, Newsgroup:
> > > > soc.culture.african.american, Date: 1994-03-23
> > > 18:15:05 PST.
> > > >
> > > > I gather its origin is somewhere in
> > > African-American slang, but does anyone
> > > > have anything more specific?
> > > >
> > > > (Search tip: This one was a bear to search.
> "It's
> > > your birthday" pulls up
> > > > thousands of unrelated hits and you can't
> search
> > > on the exact phrase
> > > > starting with "go" because the medial name
> changes
> > > with each use. Finally it
> > > > hit me that the phrase is usually repeated,
> and a
> > > search of the exact phrase
> > > > "it's your birthday go" pulled up a 100 or so
> > > precise hits.)
> > >
> > > Yeah this is a hard one to search for.  You may
> want
> > > to try searching
> > > for "it's your birthday" "get busy", since the
> > > second phrase is also
> > > part of this incantation (often pronounced as
> 'bIz
> > > E:' or something like
> > > that)...
> > >
> > > "gs Stink}, itsyer birthda}, git bizza}"
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
> > http://launch.yahoo.com
> >


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com



More information about the Ads-l mailing list