Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: Jan. 24, 2021: Title change
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/01/bo-diddleys-1955-rock-n-roll-song-im.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post includes comments from several discussion threads of YouTube sound files or videos about how Bo Diddley pronounces the word "man" in his 1955 hit song "I'm A Man" and in his performances of that song.
That post includes comments from several discussion threads of YouTube sound files or videos about how Bo Diddley pronounces the word "man" in his 1955 hit song "I'm A Man" and in his performances of that song.
Also, Excerpt #5 of that post provides comments about Muddy Water's pronounciation of the word "man" as documented in his Blue song "Mannish Boy". Both Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters were from Mississippi.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/01/theories-about-origins-use-of-variant.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II provides my Editor's notes also provides one online excerpt and one complete reprint about the origin of or meanings of two variant colloquial spellings for the word "man" (the word "manze" in Sheng, a Pidgin language used in Kenya Tanzania, and Uganda; and the word "mehn" that is used in Nigerian Pidgin English (and elsewhere).
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and a thanks to the publisher of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
DISCLAIMER:
This is only a small sample of YouTube discussion threads that have comments which include these spelling variants.
These examples don't mean to imply that these variant spellings for "man" are only found in this genre of music in the United States.
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WHAT THE WORD "MANE" MEANS & RELATED NOTES [Added Sept. 22, 2021]
"Mane" is one of several African American Vernacular English spellings for the colloquial referent "man". The word "mane" is pronounced by elongating the word "man". The letter "e" at the end isn't spoken, but is used to differentiate the slang word and pronunciation "man" from the standard English word and pronunciation "man".
The words "mayne" and "menh" may also be pronounced the same way as noted above. However, the word "manes" or "manze" is probably pronounced "mans", sometimes meaning "one man" and sometimes meaning "more than one man". When the words "mans" (or "manse" or "manze") is used by African Americans, I believe it is often done incorrectly on purpose as a way of mimicking [for one reason or another] how some Black people talk or used to talk (particularly working class or poor Black people) or mimicking what some non-Black people think is the way many African Americans talk. As such, "mans", "manse" and "manze" are used instead of using the correct standard English words "man" or "men".
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM VARIOUS DISCUSSION THREADS
1.Cameron Johnson, 2012
"im a mane!! (YEAH)!!.."
**
2. Brandon D, 2013
"im not sure, but i think muddy is a main"
**
Reply
3. Mike C, 2018
"B Randon Full Grown Main!
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4. kyle fer, 2014
"Now I'm a mayne."
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5. Dabhr2, 2014
"I'm a Mainnnn (I'm a Man) YEAH!!"
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6. Michael Morgan, 2016
"MAIN"
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Reply
7. Mike C, 2018
"It's southern dialogue! Check out lil boosie and few other southern rap artists."
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8. Kiwanis Hinton, 2016
"muddy said he a MAIN, i spell it M-A-N, he must be a bad man"
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Reply
9. casprd33, 2016
"I spell it M-AYYYY-N"
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Reply
10. INDIGENOUS SOUL, 2017
"I'm A MAAANE Spelled M.A.N."
**
11. Reply
reukage, 2018
"Mayne..."
**
12. Mind Rippa, 2016
"ima Mannnne!!!! if you never seen "Cadillac Records" check it out"
**
13. Deedoc, 2018
"IMA MANE!...YESSUH"
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Excerpt #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm7gVvUuZkE&ab_channel=organizedblues "Bo Diddley - I'm A Man (From "Legends of Rock 'n'
Roll")", published by Eagle Rock, Aug 29, 2008
unkameat74 .unkameat77, 2012
"MAIN MAN MAIN---YASSA, REAL BLACK FOLK MUSIC.."
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Excerpt #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaC5ZKRjLUM&ab_channel=John1948TwoA2
Bo Diddley - I Am A Man, John1948TwoA2 Jan 28, 2011
amd77j, 2013
"This is what YouTube is all about. Right here. "I'm a
mane.....a full grown mane". Yessir, THIS IS IT!!!!"
Excerpt #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYti8CIiOak&ab_channel=Choock5219
Bo Diddley - I'm A Man - 1955
Choock5219, Jul 10, 2014
1. Samuele Tozzi, 2019
"I [profanity deleted] love his pronunciation of
"Man", it's just too cool!"
**
Reply
2. Cooler Chanakya, 2021
"i am a Mayn"
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This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Here are three examples of the use of colloquial variant spellings for the word "man" from a YouTube Hip Hop vlog. I'm not sure where this vlogger is from:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bImx3tpGR5w&ab_channel=OSOCITYNATION
OSOCITYNATION, Aug 11, 2020
1. yves dorsainvil, 2020
"OSOCITY MANE THIS ONE IS LITTY!!!!"
**
2. Patsrock87, 2020
"My mans getting LITTY 😂😂🔥🔥🔥"
**
3. Kijuana Bruno, 2020
"Another lit one🔥🔥mehnnn everytime he blow my mind✨🎶🎶❤️do what you do best"
As the post on variant colloquial words for "man" (Part IV of this series) suggests, I've only read a small number of African published YouTube music video discussion threads. I therefore can't make any accurate assessment about which of these words are used the most. The following is just a guess for USA originating and non-USA originating usages.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as the ThatFireLA and other reaction vlogs (such as the Mansa Mayne* reaction vlog) documents, a lot of commenters in YuTube discussion threads that are USA based are from other nations, including nations in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and elsewhere.
That said, here's my very unscientific observations of the use in contemporary YouTube music videos discussion threads of referents for males and male referents that are used as interjections:
1. "Bro" or "man" appear to be used the most.
2. "Brother" is also used as well as the variant term "bruh" for "bro"
3. "Breda", "Breeda" and "Brada" are sometimes used by non-USA commenters
4. When "son" is used (particularly in the USA) by a male who is addressing another male who is presumably in the same age group and not older), the referent "son" is a put down, implying that the person using it is more knowledgeable (including more street smart) than the person being called "son".
5. I don't recall "boy" being used in these discussion threads as either a direct referent or as an interjection (such as "Boy, that was great!).
6. I recall reading a few YouTube discussion threads (from the USA) where commenters used the term "papi". But I don't recall any YouTube discussion threads that include the direct referent "daddy" or "uncle".
7. I recall reading some comments in YouTube discussion threads (from the USA) with the referent "homeboy", but I only recall reading the referent "my homies" in a discussion thread that I believe was from the ThatFireLA reaction vlog that included a lot of Africans.)
8. The general (male and female) referent "fam" is frequently used in a lot of these YouTube discussion threads (including by people who aren't from the USA).
*It occurs to me that the name "Mayne" in the screen name "Mansa Mayne" may be a variant form of the word "man". "Mansa" may have come from the historical African "Mansa Musa". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa
I forgot to add the direct (usually male) referent "og" or "g" to the list of direct male referents (and not interjections) that are found in YouTube contemporary music video discussion threads.
Delete"Og" and its shortened form "g" is found in a number of YouTube contemporary music discussion threads and is not just used by Americans. Those referents come from African American Hip Hop culture with the meaning "original gangsta",i.e. "a DJ or MC who was there in the beginning of Hip Hop".
In addition to that meaning, "og" and "g" are also used as complimentary referents.
It appears to me (from my very limited reading) that in Kenyan Hip Hop, "og" is mostly reserved for the well regarded rapper Khaligraph Jones.
I've also seen the word "brothas" in YouTube comments as a variant form of "brothers".
DeleteHere's an example of a colloquial form of the noun [not the interjection] word "man" that is part of an African American girls' rhyme:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/ghetto-childhood-rhymes.553524/; shared by LaurenceNTasha, April 1, 2007
Jump in jump out, turn yourself about
Jump in jump out, introduce yourself...
My name's Dale Gribble
I went to school
A freaky school :neutral:
I went to the bank
To see yo' mane :neutral:
He said I was F-I-N-E, FINE as I wanna be :arrogant:
F-I-N-E, FINE as she wanna be
-snip-
The commenter provided the following information that helps date this example to the early 1980s:
"Looking back we had some very adult rhymes but none of us ever got into trouble with boys. To this day we're all mid-twenties and older with no baby daddies. It was fast but innocent fun. These young girls now though :eyeroll:"
Here's a colloquial spelling for the interjection "man" from a discussion thread for a Nolfolk State University marching band YouTube video:
ReplyDeleteWayne Morris, 2019
"aye aye...main...look...i couldn't be no drum major today....dem cats be doing calistenics, i got exhausted watchin these cats main..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kenPCFUoTRY&t=197s&ab_channel=KrRo