baby daddy
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
African-American Vernacular English (General American would be baby's daddy) 1990s, popularized 2000s;[1] compare baby mama.[2] Possibly from or influenced by same term in Jamaican English, from Jamaican Creole baby-father,[1] alternatively due simply to grammatical similarities between AAVE and Jamaican Creole.[2]
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun edit
baby daddy (plural baby daddies)
- (slang, chiefly US) Father of child in common, particularly one who did not marry the mother and provides little or no support for the mother and child.
- Synonym: babyfather
- 2004, Michelle Obama, Senate victory speech, November 2, 2004:[3]
- My baby’s daddy, [sic] Barack Obama.
- 2009, Stacye Branch M Msc, It's All in How You Look at It: Thoughts and Questions About Life[1], page 191:
- The baby daddy many of us at one point or another have or will be in a relationship with someone who has a child or children, and with that child or children comes another parent.
- 2011, Michael Cornwall, Ticklenotes: More Voices from Cube Village[2], page 44:
- “I'm so glad I only have one baby daddy.” “F'really.” “I feel sorry for those girls with more than one.”
- 2012, Aaron Peckham, Urban Dictionary: Freshest Street Slang Defined[3], page 16:
- The father of your child, whom you did not marry, and with whom you are not currently involved. That man isn't my boyfriend; he's my baby daddy.
Usage notes edit
As with baby mama, contentious usage – sometimes used neutrally as a casual term, regardless of marriage status, particularly in the tabloid press,[1] or as a term of endearment, as in Obama quote above.[3] Often considered pejorative, particularly if applied to unmarried black parents – if used by one parent of the other, can imply “child in common but no meaningful relationship”, while if used by outsiders, can imply disapproval of children born out of wedlock; see “baby mama” citations.[4] More formal variants include “baby’s daddy” and “baby’s father”; in formal usage “father of one’s child” is preferred.
Related terms edit
References edit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Where Do "Baby-Daddies" Come From? The Origins of the Phrase by Julia Turner, Slate, posted May 7, 2006.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "What Did Joe Louis Have to Tell Us About Tina Fey?" on Language Log, December 10, 2008
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 “America Votes 2004”, CNN, November 2, 2004
- ^ “Was It a Slur?”, by Tobin Harshaw, The New York Times, June 12, 2008