baby daddy

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:52 PM -0500 11/19/10, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>OK, so it's only Gawker, but it still looks odd:
>
>http://goo.gl/V2VpB
>>Like the mainstream media that she reviles, Palin delights in
>>recounting her favorite protest signs-including a naked one of Levi!
>>Ew, Sarah Palin saw her daughter's baby daddy naked!
>
>Like "baby mama", this one is widespread and, of course, has a few UD
>entries (38 of them). For example,
>
>>Usually a broke ass black man; Who you met through a friend and had
>>sex wit when you was upset and confused. Now you don had his baby and
>>he dont pay child support and denies yo son ray ray.
>
>Here's another one:
>
>http://goo.gl/udUmj
>>Teen Mom star Amber Portwood has been charged with two felony counts
>>and one misdemeanor for abusing her baby daddy, Gary Shirley, in front
>>of their two-year-old daughter, Leah.
>
>Given this, I am not entirely sure Gawker's syntax is correct. Then,
>again, how else would you refer to a third-party's child's father?
>
>VS-)

You mean I can't refer to my grandfather as my grandma's baby daddy?
I can't think why not!  (Assuming, of course, that he was.)  Third
personalizing it shouldn't affect the reference possibilities.

LH

(and yes, I know there's the perennial question of whether one member
of a married couple can be the other's baby mama/daddy, but I think
we agreed in one of those earlier threads Ben mentioned that
technically this fits the bill)

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