Tue 4 Mar 2008
Everybody’s got a mother, and everybody knows yo mama jokes. They’re classics but they’re also fight-starters — yeah, it’s just a joke, but you better not talk about my momma, etc.
Why are the reactions to these jokes so complicated? What makes yo mama jokes funny, and what makes them offensive, and how do those things overlap?
Posted by Josh Millard5 answers so far!
I think the fine line is crossed when a resemblance ( even remotely ) is perceived by the listener . As long as it is someone else’s mom it’s OK……….
Fight starter? I’ve never witnessed a fight started by a “your mom” joke, and I’ve heard more jokes than your mother has tricks on a payday down at the docks.
Your momma’s so fat, she ate every plate of beans in the neighborhood!
I was definitely bewildered the first time I heard a “your mom” joke, as it was entirely inconceivable to me that something like that could possibly be insulting. And let’s not get into the incredible wit permeating such a repartee *rolls eyes*
Yo mama so fat she freebase ham.
Yo mama so fat she invisible due to gravitational lensing.
These jokes only start fights if yo momma is, you know, really fat. It’s kind of the latter-day equivalent of slapping someone with a glove to start a duel, a ritual that conveys little but the intent to scrap.