Date:    Mon, 8 Jun 1998 19:12:27 -0500
<br>From:    Gerald Cohen <gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: "You the man."
<br>
<br>   In a 5/8/98 message, Avi Arditti wrote:
<br>
<br>     >I've heard this expression a few times lately -- most recently, when
<br>I helped a fellow break into his car, and he thanked me thusly.  Any ideas
<br>on its origin?
<br>
<br>---The expression is given in Clarence Major's _Juba To Jive: A Dictionary
<br>of African-American Slang_, 1994, although not with the specific meaning
<br>"Thank you":
<br>
<br>       YOU THE MAN (1900-s-1990s) a phrase or response meaning "you're in
<br>charge," "whatever you
<br>       say goes," " et cetera.  This expression has changed in the ninety
<br>years or so that it has been popular
<br>       in black informal speech.  Originally a woman's line addressed to a
<br>man, usually her husband or
<br>       lover, about half the time used ironically.  In the thirties, black
<br>men used it ironically in addressing
<br>       white men--and in come cases black men--who happened to be their
<br>bosses.  In the eighties young
<br>       black men began using it as an ironic compliment.
<br>
<br>--Gerald Cohen
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu
<br>