Heard on The Judges: _front NP off_

[Wilson Gray]

Judge Greg "I Went From Jail To Judge In Fifteen Years" Mathis, a
black man born in Detroit in 1960, is congratulating a plaintiff on
the latter's having bounced back from spousal-abuse, prison, and
heroin addiction to become a model citizen, loving husband, and
devoted father. The judge says several of his ace-boons,    now major
players in the boojie community, likewise had to overcome an
unfortunate youth, as had the judge himself. People like "my man...

"Well, I don't want to _front_ a brother _off_, so I won't call his name."


In context, Mathis is using _front off_ to mean something like

"reveal information about someone's past that will embarrass him"

Hence, _front NP off_ could be paraphrased as

"subject someone to public embarrassment"


When I was an adolescent in Saint Louis in the early '50's, to _front
[someone] off_ meant to embarrass someone publicly by means of
word-play, especially by using some other interpretation of that
person's own words. Constant readers of my oeuvre will recall this
exchange between to 18-year-old girls, so I won't bother with
retelling the entire anecdote. But, if my fans want me to,,, No? Okay.

Peggy: "Diane, why don't you shut up?! Your *mouth* is too big!"

Diane: "Well, at least my mouth is not as big as that *hole* you're
standing over!"

In such an event, those who heard could shout, " Damn, baby! She done
fronted your fine ass off!" swiftly followed by a chant of "Front-off!
Front-off!"

However, by the time that the above occurred, in 1955, the term,
_front someone off_, _front-off_ ,had become old-school and had been
replaced by _jone_, shouted in like manner. But there was absolutely
no distinction in meaning between the two.

IAC, Mathis's use of front-off seems to be a fairly ordinary
progression from the ca. 1950's use in StL.

However, in a bit released on Lp in the '70's, Richard Pryor, as a
would-be patron bogarting his way into an after-hour(s) joint, says to
the proprietor,

"How you going to keep me out this nasty motherfucker?! You don't
*own* the joint! The White Man *own* the joint! He just _fronting_
your black ass _off_! I knew your mama when she was whoring!"


Regardless of the number of times that I've listened to this bit, the
only conclusion that I can reach is that, in Pryor's use, _front off_
means, somewhat lamely - because it's so transparent - "use as a
front."


--
-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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