[Ads-l] "Your Mother" (Not in OED)
ADSGarson O'Toole
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Tue Apr 21 18:50:41 UTC 2026
Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> When I was in junior high ca1960, it was understood that "Your mother!"
> was euphemistic for a slightly longer phrase beginning with "Go."
Jesse Sheidlower has a pertinent entry in "The F Word" (2024)
[Begin excerpt]
[go] fuck [yourself] (used to express hostility or contempt); go to
hell! get out! be damned! Also variants with other objects, especially
go fuck your mother. See also fuck spiders under spider noun.
[End excerpt]
Here are some citations within this entry containing "your mother":
[Begin excerpt]
1932 E. Hemingway Winner 152: F— yourself. F— your mother. F— your sister.
[1951 African Studies (vol. 10) 32: “Copulate with your mother!”
Normally no insult could be more frightful.]
1955 J. Sack Here to Shimbashi 92: Sometimes they toss cigarettes to
the MP’s on patrol, and sometimes they have been known to shout, “Hey,
GI — your mother!” in English.
1969 in M. Girodias New Olympia Reader 68: She [was] screaming, "Go
fuck your mother."
[End excerpt]
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