Dozens (game)

The Dozens is a game played between two contestants in which the participants insult each other until one of them gives up. Common in African-American communities, the Dozens is almost exclusively played in front of an audience, who encourage the participants to reply with increasingly severe insults in order to heighten the tension and consequently make the contest more interesting to watch.

Comments in the game may focus on the opposite player's intelligence, appearance, competency, social status, and financial situation. Disparaging remarks about the other player's family members are common, especially regarding their mother. Commentary is often related to sexual issues, and this version of the game is referred to as the "Dirty Dozens".Chimezie, Amuzie (June 1976). "The Dozens: An African-Heritage Theory", ''Journal of Black Studies'', Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 401–420.

According to sociologist Harry Lefever and journalist John Leland, the game is played almost entirely by African-Americans; other ethnic groups often fail to understand how to play the game and can take remarks in the Dozens seriously.Although folklorists have observed some white adolescent boys engaging in a form of the Dozens, a black psychologist wrote in 1970 that white psychologists' deconstruction of the apparent hostility in the Dozens is misunderstood because the white psychologists take the insults literally (Lefever). John Leland uses the example of boxer Muhammad Ali, who often used the Dozens format in banter with reporters, either confusing or angering them when he did. (Leland, p. 182) Its popularity is higher among low-income and urban communities, but it is also found in middle-class and rural settings. Both men and women participate, but the game is more commonly played among men.

Origins

The first academic treatment of the Dozens was made in 1939 by Yale-based psychologist and social theorist John Dollard, who described the importance of the game among African-American men, and how it is generally played. Dollard's description is considered pioneering and accurate.Jordan, Larry (1983). "Social Construction as Tradition: A Review and Reconceptualization of the Dozens", ''Review of Research in Education'', Vol. 10, pp. 79–101.

The Dozens is a "pattern of interactive insult" evident among all classes of African Americans, among men and women, children and adults.Dollard, pp. 278–279.

Usually two participants engage in banter, but always in front of others, who incite the participants to continue the game by making the insults worse.

Frequently used topics among players who "play the Dozens" or are "put in the Dozens" are one's opponent's lack of intelligence, ugliness, alleged homosexuality, alleged incest, cowardice, poor hygiene, and exaggerations of physical defects, such as crossed eyes.

Dollard originally wrote that he was unaware of how the term "Dozens" developed, although he suggested a popular twelve-part rhyme may have been the reason for its name. He only speculated on how the game itself grew to such prominence.

Other authors following Dollard have added their theories. Author John Leland describes an etymology, writing that the term is a modern survival of an English verb—"to dozen"—dating back at least to the fourteenth century and meaning "to stun, stupefy, daze" or "to make insensible, torpid, powerless".Leland, p. 173.

Amuzie Chimezie, writing in the ''Journal of Black Studies'' in 1976, connects the Dozens to a Nigerian game called ''Ikocha Nkocha'', literally translated as "making disparaging remarks". This form of the game is played by children and adolescents, and takes place in the evening, in the presence of parents and siblings.

Commentary among the Igbo is more restrained: remarks about family members are rare, and are based more in fanciful imaginings than participants' actual traits.

In contrast, during the game in Ghana, which is also commonly played in the evenings, insults are frequently directed at family members.

Amiri Baraka independently concluded that the Dozens originated in Africa and states that they are a surviving adaptation of "African songs of recrimination."

Author and professor Mona Lisa Saloy posits a different theory, stating in "African American Oral Traditions in Louisiana" (1998):

"The dozens has its origins in the slave trade of New Orleans