The Dozens

The Dozens is a game of spoken words between two contestants, common in Black communities of the United States, where participants insult each other until one gives up. It is customary for the Dozens to be played in front of an audience of bystanders, who encourage the participants to reply with more egregious insults to heighten the tension and, consequently, to be more interesting to watch. It is also known as "blazing", "hiking", "roasting", "capping", "clowning", "ranking", "ragging", "rekking", "crumming", "sounding", "checkin", "joning", "woofing", "wolfing", "sigging", or "signifying", while the insults themselves are known as "snaps".

Comments in the game focus on the opposite player's intelligence, appearance, competency, social status, financial situation, and disparaging remarks about the other player's family members—mothers in particular ("yo′ mama...")—are common. Those outside the African-American community, in fact, often use the incorrectly specific term "yo momma jokes" to refer to the Dozens. Commentary is often related to sexual issues, where the game is then referred to as the "Dirty Dozens".

According to sociologist Harry Lefever and journalist John Leland, the game is almost exclusive to African Americans; other ethnic groups often fail to understand how to play the game and can take remarks in the Dozens seriously. Both males and females participate, but the game is more commonly played among males of varying social status.

The importance of mothers in African and African-American families is at the heart of the game: insulting someone else's mother is sure to inflame the passions of the other player. Like athletic sports and other games across cultures, the Dozens serves as a substitute for physical aggression, advancing the goals of social competition while sparing both sides the injury and economic hardship associated with violence. In any event, The Dozens is a contest of personal power: wit, self-control, verbal ability, mental acuity, and toughness.

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 males, and how it is generally played. Dollard's description is considered pioneering and accurate. The Dozens is a "pattern of interactive insult" evident among all classes of African Americans, among males and females, children and adults.

Usually two participants engage in banter, but always in front of others, who instigate 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.

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