[Ads-l] Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am

[Jesse Sheidlower]

There is no reference in W&F, there is simply the bare assertion "Since before c1895." In other words, this is an unreliable claim.

Also, it's found in the 1960 edition of W&F as well as the 1967 (and 1975, for that matter).

Jesse Sheidlower

On Sun, May 10, 2020 at 09:53:11PM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> Margaret Lee wrote:
> >  Clarence Major's _Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang_ traces 'wham bam,
> >  thank you, mam' as a sexual term back to the 1880's.
> 
> Thanks, Margaret Lee. It looks like the reference "Juba to Jive"
> points to the information provided by "WF, DAS" which is an
> abbreviation for "Dictionary of American Slang" (1967) by Harold
> Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner. I will try to track down the
> specifics listed in the 1967 reference.
> 
> [ref] 1994, Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang,
> Edited by Clarence Major, Quote Page 504, Viking: Penguin Group, New
> York. (Verified with scans) [/ref]
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Wham bam (1880s-1990s) quick, impersonal sexual intercourse. (WF, DAS,
> p. 573.) SNU. See "Wham bam (thank you ma'am)."
> 
> Wham bam [thank you ma'am] (1880s-1990s) quick, impersonal sexual
> intercourse followed by a perfunctory word of gratitude; used more as
> a description of such an event than by the participants. (WF, DAS, p.
> 573.) SNU.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> "SNU" is an abbreviation for "Southern and northern use".
> 
> Garson
> 
> >     On Sunday, May 10, 2020, 04:08:59 AM EDT, Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >  Wikipedia on "Suffragette City" says: 'The "sexually charged" famous hook
> > "wham bam, thank you, ma'am!" previously appeared as the title of a song on
> > jazz bassist Charles Mingus's 1961 album Oh Yeah, as well as a 1967 song by
> > the Small Faces.'  Cites: Doggett, Peter (2012). *The Man Who Sold the
> > World: David Bowie and the 1970s*. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN
> > 978-0-06-202466-4.  So, Black Oak Arkansas gets way less popularization
> > credit than I had in mind. :-)
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 9, 2020 at 5:35 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I also recall that David Bowie included the phrase in the lyrics of
> > > Suffragette City.
> > >
> > > YouTube Video
> > > Release Date: April 1972
> > > Song: Suffragette City
> > > Singer/Songwriter: David Bowie
> > > Location: 2:50 of 3:26
> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLnPd7lzT4g
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > Oooh-how, Sufragette City, oooh-how, Sufragette
> > > Ohhh, wham bam thank you ma'am
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > >
> >
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> >
> >
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> 
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