Who's your daddy?

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 14, 2004, at 12:34 PM, Grant Barrett wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
> Subject:      Re: Who's your daddy?
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> --------
>
> While the phrase appears in the Zombies song, there it doesn't seem to
> me to include the subtext found in the current use. The current "who's
> your daddy" is also not the literal, "Who is you father and what does
> he do?" Nor do I think it is saying "you're a bastard" or "you're a son
> of a bitch," although there could be echos of either.
>
> For "daddy," HDAS has, among other defs, "the finest, largest, or most
> striking example," "a man who is an important influence in a field,"
> and "the lover and protector of a prostitute; pimp."

A prostitute has a "lover and protector"? This is the very antithesis
of the reality. Anyone who believes that this could possibly be true
clearly has no experience whatsoever of "the (sporting) life" or "the
game" and really, really, really needs to get out more. Prostitution is
not known as "white _slavery_" for no reason.

-Wilson Gray

>  Somewhere in the
> intersection of these we have our  daddy in "who's your daddy?"
>
> I'd say the latest "who's your daddy?" is a statement, a rhetorical
> question, one that claims the speaker has the upper hand. It says, "I
> am the pimp and you my bitch." "I 0wn joo." "Pwnded!1!1!" "I am the
> boss of you." "You have been/are being dominated." "You are
> subservient." Or, in the case of crowds shouting it, it means "You
> suck."
>
> There's also the question of popularization.
>
> A sig in a Usenet post, 20 August 19992: "GO BROWNS!!! WHO'S YOUR
> DADDY!!!"
> http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=9208201312.AA20454%40TIS.COM
>
> 29 April 1993: 'Bob is the wildest guy in school. For instance, he'll
> jump on people's backs and shout "Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?"'
> http://groups.google.com/groups?
> selm=1993Apr29.154236.3222%40Princeton.EDU
>
> There's a similar but uncertain mention of it in a 11 Sept. 1993
> article connected with hockey and the Might Ducks in the L.A. Times:
> Finally, Coleman asked him just to let go and be weird, like walking up
> to a fan and saying, "I've got three eyes." Besides skating with the
> keyboard, Coleman explained, the Iceman will work the crowds, from the
> box seats to the upper deck, hamming for the stadium's big screen.
> "Wow, this is new for me," the performer said, pondering what to do.
> Then, walking up behind Frawley, who was stationed in a chair as the
> guinea pig, he said: "Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?"
>
> Apr. 21 1994, "Damn, I knew Brad was good, but *not that good* I guess
> you liked that "who's your daddy" talk. Personally, I dig dominating
> him, try that sometime."
> http://groups.google.com/groups?
> selm=1994Apr21.083253.1%40ptag2.pt.cyanamid.com
>
> Dennis Miller used it in his 1996 book "Rants," which may have been
> derived from his HBO television show. In it, he gives advice to men:
> "This is very important. During lovemaking: Don't ask, 'Who's your
> daddy?' Even as a joke. All right? It's not funny." Given that Miller
> is the kind of guy who people (used to) quote the next morning, I think
> he'd deserve some credit for popularization.
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385478046/
>
> This pro wrestling fantasy fiction (who knew such a thing existed?) has
> it from Mar. 3 1997, and there are many other hits of the term
> associated with the "sport," too.
> http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=331c23f7.327406%40news.ox.ac.uk
>
> The phrase was also used to great effect in the first "American Pie"
> film, in 1999, which is when I first remember hearing the term used in
> the current way. Actress Alyson Hannigan (the red-haired gal with the
> widow's peak who is also a fixture on the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
> series) plays a timid girl who seems to begin every sentence with "One
> time, in band camp..." However, at a big end-of-the-year party, her
> true self comes out, and in the bedroom with a character played by
> Jason Biggs (the pie-violator), she takes control, pushes him down on
> the bed, straddles him, and begins shouting, "Who's your daddy? Who's
> your daddy, bitch?" Later Biggs's character muses about how nice it was
> to be objectified.
>
> Grant Barrett
>
>
> On Oct 14, 2004, at 10:58, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>>> Anyone have any information about the origins of the phrase "Who's
>>> your
>>> daddy?" This phrase was
>>> recently used by Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez. A reporter wants to
>>> know.
>>
>