Strange use of "baby daddy"

[Margaret Lee]

I think it is, more simply, a matter of employing a popular phrase perceived to 
be funny,without regard for whether the context made sense. The perceived humor 
in the phrase was more important than anything else. Then that begs the 
question, Why would someone find the phrase itself funny, especially since the 
context makes no sense?  Is it the AAE pronunciation of it?

_--Margaret Lee
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From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Thu, February 17, 2011 12:41:06 PM
Subject: Re: Strange use of "baby daddy"

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 7:58 AM,  <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> It seems clear enough that "baby daddy" in this context is supposed to be taken 
>to mean 'father of a child born out of wedlock; biological father'.

So, it means,

"Luke, I am the father of your child born out of wedlock; the
biological father of your child"?


Since Luke doesn't have a child, how do those interpretations make
enough sense to be funny? Or any sense at all?

Or is it the case that _baby daddy_ is being forced into the
Procrustean bed of having the same meaning as simple "daddy"? I.e, the
parody lies in the fact that the revised quote is meant to be taken as
non-distinct from

"Luke, I am your daddy."

That would certainly have worked, if the scene were something like:

Luke:

"Who is my father?"

Darth:

"Who's your daddy?! Luke, *I* am your daddy!"

Now, that's worth a slight lifting upward of the corners of the
corners of one's mouth. In fact, if the scene were,

Luke:

"Who is the biological father of my child?"

Darth:

"Luke, *I* am your baby daddy!"

Of course, Luke would still have to have a child.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org