The Dozens - Purpose and Practice

Purpose and Practice

Participants in the Dozens are required to exhibit mental acuity and proficiency with words. In his memoirs Die Nigger Die! (1969), H. Rap Brown writes that the children he grew up with employed the Dozens to kill time and stave off boredom, in the way that whites might play Scrabble. Brown asserts playing the game is a form of mental exercise. Sociologist Harry Lefever states that verbal skill and wit is just as valued among African Americans as physical strength: "Verbal facility is thus a criterion that is used to separate the men from the boys". According to author John Leland, the object of the game is to stupefy and daze one's opponents with swift and skillful speech. The meaning of the words, however, is lost in the game. The object of the game is the performance.

Remarks in the Dozens can be expressed in rhyme or general language. More simplistic forms are found among younger children:

Participant 1: "I hear your mother plays third base for the Phillies."
Participant 2: "Your mother is a bricklayer and stronger than your father."
Participant 1: "Your mother eats shit."
Participant 2: "Your mother eats shit and mustard."

Adolescents incorporate more sexual themes in their versions, often called the "Dirty Dozens". The language also becomes more playful, with participants including rhymes:

I was walking through the jungle
With my dick in my hand
I was the baddest motherfucker
In the jungle land
I looked up in the tree
And what did I see
Your little black mama
Trying to piss on me
I picked up a rock
And hit her in the cock
And knocked that bitch
A half a block.

Not all forms of the Dozens must address sexual situations or body parts:

If you wanta play the Dozens
Play them fast.
I'll tell you how many bull-dogs
Your mammy had.
She didn't have one;
She didn't have two;
She had nine damned dozens
And then she had you.

The social justification for the popularity of the Dozens is the subject of speculation. Its development is entwined with the oppression African Americans encountered as slaves and second class citizens. John Dollard's view of the Dozens was as a manifestation of frustration aggression theory, which he helped develop. He hypothesized that African Americans, as victims of racism, have been unable to respond in kind towards their oppressors, and instead shifted their anger at friends and neighbors, as displayed in the strings of insults. In 1962, Folklorist Roger Abrahams explained the Dozens not only as a reaction to racism, but a mostly male behavior in a society dominated by women, hence the concentration on targeting opponents' mothers. Abrahams believed the Dozens to be exaggeratedly masculine behavior unable to be expressed except in short bursts where a participant attacks his opponent's mother to cause him to attack his own mother. Both Dollard's and Abraham's views have been criticized for not considering proper context in which the Dozens is used. Folklorist Alan Dundes asserts that by basing their approach on psychoanalytic theory, neither Dollard nor Abrahams considers that the Dozens may be native to Africa, although Dollard does not rule it out. In addition to similar forms of the Dozens found in Nigeria and Ghana, Bantu and Kisii boys have been observed dueling verbally by attacking each other's mothers.

The game is also considered a tool for preparing African Americans for coping with verbal abuse and not becoming enraged. The ability to remain composed during the Dozens is a hallmark of virtue among many African Americans. Two sociologists write, "In the deepest sense, the essence of the dozens lies not in the insults but in the response of the victim. To take umbrage is to be considered an infantile response. Maturity and sophistication bring the capability to suffer the vile talk with aplomb at least, and, hopefully, with grace and wit." Opposing this theory is the reality that many contests end in fights. Roger Abrahams states that when African Americans reach a certain age, between 16 and 26, the game loses much of its appeal and attempts to enter into sparring contests often result in violence. John Leland writes that the loser of the Dozens is the one who takes his opponent's words at face value, therefore ending his own performance in the back-and-forth exchange.