"word to mother" (1985)

[Wilson Gray]

Does the OED include "Word Up!", documentable to 1986, when it
appeared as the title of a song written by Lawrence Ernest "Larry"
Blackmon and recorded by the group, Cameo?

-Wilson

On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:51 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      "word to mother" (1985)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The latest OED batch includes this in the entry for _word_:
>
> ----
> P5d. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S., in the language of rap and
> hip-hop). _word to_ : greetings to ; credit, esteem, or compliments to
> . Also _word to the_ (also _your_, _my_) _mother_ and variants: used
> as a general expression of affirmation or agreement, or to give force
> to a declaration.
>
> 1988 'DR. DRE' et al. Straight outta Compton (song) in L. A. Stanley
> Rap: the Lyrics 244 Word to the motherfucker Straight Outta Compton.
> 1988 'BIG DADDY KANE' (title of song) Word to the mother (land). 1991
> Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) (Nexis) 9 Mar., Yo! Word to your
> mother. This Iceman's..like no other. 1998 L. HILL Final Hour (song)
> in Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (CD lyrics booklet), Word to Boonie I
> makes a lot like a Sunni. 2002 S. HOLMES B-More Careful 253 It's
> something about her that ain't right, word to my mother.
> ----
>
> "Word to mother" can be heard on the song "The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid
> Fresh)" by Super Nature, released as a 12" single in 1985:
>
> http://www.discogs.com/release/182158
>
> Super Nature was soon renamed Salt-N-Pepa, and the song was included
> on their 1986 debut album "Hot Cool & Vicious" (under the title "The
> Showstopper").
>
> Audio + transcript here:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlQtLNnSbqI
> Same transcript:
> http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/saltpepa/hot_cool/showstop.slt.txt
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
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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