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Permissible Disrespect Among Black Dude |
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The three groups of acceptable or permissible forms of Verbal Dueling-- the concrete, the partial boundaries, and the unbounded--are forms of recreation, humor, and fun for their participants.
Yet, there is no general acceptance related to terminology. Many prefer the term "Dozens" to "Sounding" because it is the oldest name known. I use the canopy term "Verbal Dueling" because that is what all of these entities are about. Whatever general term is used--most often Sounding and the "Dozens"--these verbal insults consist of symmetrical joking relationships in which two or more people are free to engage in direct insults, "sounds," or indirect insults (signifying) to each other and to each other's Ancestors and relatives. “Toasting” or “the dozens” (some consider them separate and some say they are synonymous) are games in which two people try to “out do” one another in heaping insults--the Dozens--on the opponent's mother; Toasting is done upon each other’s parents and ancestry, economic prospects, or physical appearance. Although the object is to get the opponent to “cross the line” into anger, it remains only a game.
These forms of Verbal Dueling are said to be rooted in the mythic African folklore figure of “Esu,” the trickster and built upon the concept of amusing and clever verbal traps. "Signifying" (to “make or give a sign”) is a Black expression for trying to make a big impression on others, as a pretentious person might to do. To say (or do) one thing as a sign that means something else, with the full knowledge that ones audience will make the connection, is an old African practice. American signifying began during slavery when the Slaves defiantly spoke in allegory or in code (saying one thing but meaning another) when communicating within the hearing distance of Whites. Slaves singing: “Steal Away to Jesus” meant one thing to Whites but to fellow Slaves it was a call to a secret meeting. Signifying continued in post-slavery chain gangs and in Black's inner cities. Both significantly contributed to the formation of Rap. In each instance Blacks have obscured their message so that Whites either have no idea of what is being said or are misled into a wrong direction. Meanwhile, signifying served as a form of recreation in the sense that it described contests which the adversaries showered verbal abuse on themselves. By contrast, the Dozens referred only to verbal contests which focused on the adversary's mother.
The sameness in form, content, and rules of these three can be seen in (near) Verbal Dueling as: “playing the Dozens,” Jiving, Rifting, Louding, Toasting, Sounding (New York), “Woofing” (Oakland, California and in Philadelphia), “Joining” (Washington DC), “Signifying” (Chicago); in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; "Screaming"; and, on the West Coast -- “Cutting,” “Capping,” or “Chopping.” Each area has its own specialization and twists on meanings (Farb, Wordplay p 122, 182). Nevertheless, expertise in verbal dueling was-- among the Slaves and continues to be among today’s struggling Black youth--a powerful way to achieve “respect” among peers. The winner is recognized on the basis of verbal facility, originality, ingenuity, and humor. The absence of violence is based on the recognition that the participants are engaged in a structure of speaking (Levine p348). Yet, these "acceptable" or "permissible" forms of Disrespect are to be used only by members of struggling Black Americans and would generate great anger if used by Europeans or even Black people on different rungs of the social ladder. Ref: Bailey, Word Stories Originated by Ancient Africans; Bailey, Word Stories Surrounding African American Slavery. |
