[Ads-l] Antedating of "Yo" (Greeting)

Fri Jul 25 16:27:42 UTC 2025

Great work, Ben and Fred. The premiere of the motion picture "Rocky"
was on November 20, 1976 in New York City according to IMDB. I do not
know when the script draft with "Yo" was written. Fred consulted Jan.
7, 1976 final draft.

Here is a citation from 1975. A newspaper in California wrote about
basketball player Clifford Ray of the Golden State Warriors who used
the salutation "Yo, hon".

Date: December 26, 1975
Newspaper: The Sacramento Bee
Newspaper Location: Sacramento, California
Article: Ray Of Sunshine: Warriors' Trade Paid Dividends
Author: Herb Michelson (Bee Sports Writer)
Quote Page C1, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
His nickname is "Yo," as in, many have been led to believe, Johann
Sebastian Bach. Clifford is a music man; he had 15 college scholarship
offers as much for his clarinet and sax ability as for his rebounding
tenacity. And sure, he digs Bach.

However, trivia fans will be delighted to learn that Ray's nickname
comes from his salutation to a pretty lady. Bachelor Clifford will
spot a girl and say, "Yo, hon." Thus is history confused.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Jul 25, 2025 at 9:07 AM Shapiro, Fred
<00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> I was aware of Stallone saying "Yo Adrian !" at the end of the movie "Rocky."  But the sense I was trying to antedate was a simple greeting or response to greeting and the famous "Yo Adrian" line seemed to me to illustrate some other one of the shades of meaning mentioned in the OED definition.  Ben's email rightly points out that there are many other "Yo"s in the film.  I looked at the final draft of the movie script (7 Jan. 1976) online and there is an abundance of simple greetings - "Yo Rock,' "Yo Gloria," "Yo Mike," "Yo Paulie," etc., etc.  These are exact antedatings of the OED sense I was focused on.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2025 11:34 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Yo" (Greeting)
>
> Are we counting "Yo, Adrian" (among various other "yo"'s) in _Rocky_
> (1976)?
>
> On Thu, Jul 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > The same greetings appeared in an earlier comic strip
> > Correction: There were no exclamation marks in this strip.
> >
> > Date: August 18, 1979
> > Newspaper: The Modesto Bee
> > Newspaper Location: Modesto, California
> > Section: Comics (Date on comic section is August 19, 1979)
> > Comic Strip Title: The Born Loser
> > Comic Strip Artist: Art Sansom
> > Quote Page Unnumbered 6
> > Database: Newspapers.com
> >
> > https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-modesto-bee-yohurricane%2F177388717%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C121930913b3b4309e2ba08ddcb2c364d%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638890112929631038%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=EFLoTQ36tDS%2F8Ufc9dEtip0AHyVZyDQ8msmvm85LXvA%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-modesto-bee-yohurricane/177388717/>
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Panel 01
> >  YO, BRUTUS.
> >  YO, HURRICANE.
> >
> > Panel 03
> >  CARE FOR A BANANA, HURRICANE?
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> > <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > The same greetings appeared in an earlier comic strip
> > >
> > > Date: August 18, 1979
> > > Newspaper: The Modesto Bee
> > > Newspaper Location: Modesto, California
> > > Section: Comics (Date on comic section is August 19, 1979)
> > > Comic Strip Title: The Born Loser
> > > Comic Strip Artist: Art Sansom
> > > Quote Page Unnumbered 6
> > > Database: Newspapers.com
> > >
> > https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-modesto-bee-yohurricane%2F177388717%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C121930913b3b4309e2ba08ddcb2c364d%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638890112929653788%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RpdAGq3EzvKDC0N7ZaRQYDNlHO%2B97U9HWmcZGRovWxM%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-modesto-bee-yohurricane/177388717/>
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > Panel 01
> > >  YO, BRUTUS!
> > >  YO, HURRICANE!
> > >
> > > Panel 03
> > >  CARE FOR A BANANA, HURRICANE?
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> >
>
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