Where does "I loves me some X" come from?

June 28, 2010 6:42 PM

What is the origin of the expression "I loves me some X"? Is it a Homer Simpsonism?
posted by inksyndicate to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Definitely pre-dates the Simpsons. Earliest written mention I can find is from 1971, a Harlem writers' workshop anthology:"Yeah, chile, I love me some poke chops. I could just eat them till I bust." So perhaps it's an AAVE phrase?
posted by Paragon at 6:51 PM on June 28, 2010

My grandfather says this. He's an old white guy from the South. Probably has never seen The Simpsons.
posted by ishotjr at 7:16 PM on June 28, 2010

It's African-American English. That's where I heard it; it then "crossed over" from there (as did "hooking up," though it didn't originally mean EXCLUSIVELY sexual acts, as it seems to now). But I don't have any more specific detail than that.
posted by CommonSense at 7:17 PM on June 28, 2010

The construction is called the "personal dative" and is common to both AAVE and many white dialects in the South.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 7:35 PM on June 28, 2010 [3 favorites]

It's times like this that I wish Google had an Advanced Search->Date->Oldest. I'm certain I've heard it associated with older Blues and various Appalachian music contexts, but I lack proof.

@ strangely stunted trees: personal dative. Thanks for tonight's linguistic pr0n.
posted by kjs3 at 7:47 PM on June 28, 2010

Here's a paper on it: "I love me some him": The landscape of non-argument datives by Laurence Horn.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 7:49 PM on June 28, 2010

Sorry to keep spamming this thread, but the paper does give an explanation of the specific popularity of "I love me some x" - a snowclone of a 1997 Toni Braxton song.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 7:56 PM on June 28, 2010