Black folks calling white folks "Boss" -- Happen where you live?

[Piggy]

3 times in the last 2 weeks, I've been called "Boss" by a black man (I'm white)... not the same man, a different person each time, ranging in age from maybe late 20s to early 40s.

It's something you don't hear all that often anymore, but it's not so uncommon around here as to seem odd. Still, hearing it that frequently got me thinking.

I'm just wondering how widespread that term is these days. Is it something other folks on this board hear, or say?

Do white men use the term, and I just haven't noticed? Do black men use the term among themselves?

Do women use the term at all? Folks of other ethnicities?

 

[Cainkane1]

In some parts of the country white people call more educated and affluent people boss. Its culture I guess.

 

[sowellfan]

I've lived in the southeast my whole life (Jacksonville & Memphis, with lots of visits to NE Louisiana - and I'm 38 years old), and I can't say I've really seen this. I think I have had a couple white guys refer to me as 'boss', but in those instances I think it was an informal way of referring to me as his customer (like it was a mechanic, or the cable guy, etc.).

 

[Antiquehunter]

I've been called 'Boss' several times, in several different contexts. I can't specifically recall being called 'Boss' by a black man. I'm not that fond of the term - I far prefer to be addressed by my real name, or in a casual setting, something more typical. Mister, Sir, Hey you - Boss doesn't make my top 10 list.

 

[madurobob]

Is that a racial thing in some parts?

I don't remember ever being called boss, even when I was the employer. And I've not heard it said anywhere but TV that I can remember. But, I have occasionally called my manager "boss" and she doesn't like it one bit. I'm not sure why.

I've never understood it to mean anything more than "you are my employer and I'm doing what you ask". As in "Sure thing, boss" in response to a request from... your boss. But, I have been clueless about such things before.

 

[Macgyver1968]

I think the term is used in prison, used to address correction officers. It may be a hold over from that.

 

[Tony99]

Not necessarily a racial thing. In my experience it indicates the person has spent some time in jail, prison or other correctional facility.
Guards or corrections officials are called "boss" by inmates. It's a term that has spilled over into the public.
I'm sure some of our law enforcement members can corroborate. Personal anecdote: my brother-in-law is an L.A. County sheriff; when he stops someone he knows they have previously been to jail if they refer to him as 'boss'

 

[LTC8K6]

Yes, but I am the boss.

 

[tyr_13]

Some people I work with call me 'Boss' sometimes, even the management and supervisors. I'm no one's actual boss. Although sometimes I'm also called 'Captain' and 'Brandar the barbarian from Mars', so take that for what you will.

 

[aggle-rithm]

I think it's just an informal show of respect. Doesn't actually reflect any social status.

 

[uk_dave]

3 times in the last 2 weeks, I've been called "Boss" by a black man (I'm white)... not the same man, a different person each time, ranging in age from maybe late 20s to early 40s.

It's something you don't hear all that often anymore, but it's not so uncommon around here as to seem odd. Still, hearing it that frequently got me thinking.

I'm just wondering how widespread that term is these days. Is it something other folks on this board hear, or say?

Do white men use the term, and I just haven't noticed? Do black men use the term among themselves?

Do women use the term at all? Folks of other ethnicities?

You sure it wasn't 'Hoss'?

 

[quadraginta]

Not necessarily a racial thing. In my experience it indicates the person has spent some time in jail, prison or other correctional facility.
Guards or corrections officials are called "boss" by inmates. It's a term that has spilled over into the public.
I'm sure some of our law enforcement members can corroborate. Personal anecdote: my brother-in-law is an L.A. County sheriff; when he stops someone he knows they have previously been to jail if they refer to him as 'boss'

It isn't all that unusual in the construction racket. Probably less so now than in the past, but there wasn't often a negative connotation involved. It was just the guy you worked for. I think that it has become more common as a third person reference (i.e. "I'll ask my boss." or "My boss told me ...") as informality between employer and employee has grown.

The implicit racism of "Yassa, boss." sorts of scenarios might be an artifact of cinema which has gained more traction in recent decades, too. It wasn't always exclusively that.

 

[SumDood]

I think the term is used in prison, used to address correction officers. It may be a hold over from that.

Pretty sure this is the origin. I worked with an old black man who claimed to have worked on a chain gang. And anything they did outside of their normal labor movements, they had to tell the people in charge they were doing it. "wiping it off, Boss" when they wiped the sweat from their brow, for example. He said "Cool Hand Luke" was a pretty accurate depiction. Except they're weren't any blacks in that movie.

 

[sarge]

I have infrequently been called "boss" by grown Black men. I was unable to tell whether they were reacting out of habit, or where being sincerely respectful, or if they were being sarcastic in an inside joke kind of way. In each instance, I was mildly uncomfortable with the expression.

I have been called "boss" by adult white men more often. Most often, as the customer of a laborer. It happened a few weeks ago when I had a mason brick in a grill island. In these instances, I am reasonably certain it is habit and intended to be very mildly respectful.

We have a quasi-native tribe around here, the Lumbee. They use "boss man" quite a lot. It means nothing.

 

[Cayvmann]

Where I'm from we call each other son, boss, bo, boy, old boy, all without racial context or undertones. I've been called boss, but mainly by people who didn't know my name. Not really sure if more blacks use the term or not. Doesn't bother me, either way.

 

[Almo]

The only people who call me "boss" are the guys in my corporation in EVE-Online. I lived in Texas for 7 years, and I don't remember ever hearing this.

 

[Foolmewunz]

I know where Piggy's coming from. It's a throwback and I think it precedes the use in prison. In the rural south, the foreman on a job or work team was always referred to deferrentially as "boss". That probably segued over to any white person on the "crew" because of the imbalance in southern society back in the Jim Crow era.

I've had older black men call me, "boss", albeit quite a few years ago, and it was uncomfortable. It assumes a bygone era when any black would consider any white as their social superior because that's just the way it was.

The only times I've heard it in my latter life, it's always been someone being truly obsequious - usually a panhandler or con man - trying to play up to you before making their pitch.

 

[quadraginta]

I think the term is used in prison, used to address correction officers. It may be a hold over from that.

Pretty sure this is the origin. I worked with an old black man who claimed to have worked on a chain gang. And anything they did outside of their normal labor movements, they had to tell the people in charge they were doing it. "wiping it off, Boss" when they wiped the sweat from their brow, for example. He said "Cool Hand Luke" was a pretty accurate depiction. Except they're weren't any blacks in that movie.

Pretty sure the origins are older than that. Movies have a way of changing our perceptions of history. (Disney needed to hurl live ... unwilling, from off-camera ... lemmings off a cliff to start an internationally believed falsehood.)

Here's one etymology dictionary's offering.

boss (1)

"overseer," 1640s, Amer.Eng., from Du. baas "a master," M.Du. baes, of obscure origin.

If original sense was "uncle," perhaps it is related to O.H.G. basa "aunt," but some sources discount this theory. The Du. form baas is attested in English from 1620s as the standard title of a Dutch ship's captain. The word's popularity in U.S. may reflect egalitarian avoidance of master as well as the need to distinguish slave from free labor.

I think it is interesting that it may have originally been intended as a way to distinguish the speaker from chattel slaves, and now it may be becoming associated with that connotation.

 

[tyr_13]

Like a Boss. NSFW

 

[Ferguson]

One my of friends has started calling me "boss" by default, replacing "dude," and she's a 22 year old white girl. I find it pretty annoying.