Yo

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Yo is an English slang interjection,^[1] commonly associated with American English. It was popularized after being used commonly by the Italian-American community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since the 1940s.^[2]

Although often used as a greeting, yo may come at the end of a sentence, often to direct focus onto a particular individual or group or to gain the attention of another individual or group. It may specify that a certain statement that had been uttered is more important, or may just be an "attention grabber".

Etymology and history

The interjection yo was first used in Middle English.^[3][4] The Middle English term originated from Old English ġēa^[5] In addition to yo, it was also sometimes written io.^[6]

Though the term may have been in use in the 16th century, its current popularity stems from its use in Philadelphia's Italian American population in the twentieth century, which spread to other ethnic groups in the city, notably among the African Americans.^[7]

From the late twentieth century it frequently appeared in hip hop music and became associated with African American Vernacular English, as seen in the title Yo! MTV Raps, a popular American television hip-hop music program in the 1980s.

Notable uses

A frequent example of the expression is fictional Philadelphian Rocky Balboa, where the word is used throughout all of the Rocky films, and is part of the iconic line, "Yo, Adrian, I did it!", which was ranked 80th in the AFI's list of 100 best movie quotes.^[8]

The phrase "Yo, Blair. What are you doing?" was an informal greeting that United States President George W. Bush gave to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 17 July 2006.^[9]

Other uses

• In Baltimore, and possibly other cities, yo (or a word coincidentally identical to it) has become a gender-neutral pronoun.^[10]
• The depiction of pirates in popular culture often includes "yo" or similar sounds in sea ditties, perhaps most famously Long John Silver's song, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest / Yo ho ho and bottle of rum!" in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Or the similar, "With clockwork, sails, or spirits of wine, Yeo-ho, my lads, ahoy!",^[11] published seven years later in 1890.

References