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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:13:47 PM EST
[#1]
I say it to a boss if they're my friend and know I'm joking. I always thought it implied slave driver.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:14:12 PM EST
[#2]
I've used the term before many times and heard it used many more. Never had any annotations other than usually referring to whomever was in charge (foreman, manager, CEO, customer's wife, etc).
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:14:17 PM EST
[#3]
People use to call me that all the time, of course I happened to be the boss..
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:14:35 PM EST
[#4]
I'd go with "country". An employee of mine is Pennsylvania country, and he calls me "Boss man". I had him on speaker and my daughter heard him, now she calls me "Boss man".
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:15:03 PM EST
[#5]
Old Southern slang IMO.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:15:56 PM EST
[#6]
LOL. I usually only get called that by black dudes
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:16:45 PM EST
[#7]
Used pretty commonly around here.
Even the coffee shop owner next to my office calls me "boss man". |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:18:33 PM EST
[#8]
I think I've only ever been called that by Jamaican and African immigrants. Most recent was a gas station clerk with a thick African Colonial English accent.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:19:03 PM EST
[#9]
Other languages use the term and it would not surprise me if Scotch or Irish Gaelic have those words of address.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:19:09 PM EST
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I say it to a boss if they're my friend and know I'm joking. I always thought it implied slave driver. This, I’ve always seen it as a negative term. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:19:41 PM EST
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: LOL. I usually only get called that by black dudes That's why I always felt like it was racial |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:21:06 PM EST
[#12]
People called me boss man and I'll tell them I'm not a bootlicker and I'm like everyone else over here.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:22:42 PM EST
[#13]
When I lived in NYC, pretty much every guy working at a corner store would say that. "boss" or "boss man"
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:23:11 PM EST
[#14]
Having worked in a jail, it irks me when people call me boss. Usually they don’t mean any harm by it and probably don’t understand what it means in jail.
For the uninitiated, it means “Sorry Son Of a Bitch” spelled backwards. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:24:12 PM EST
[#15]
Big Boss Man
Lyrics By: Smith, Dixon Music By: Smith, Dixon Big boss man, can't you hear me when I call? Big boss man, can't you hear me when I call? You ain't so big, you just tall, that's just about all. You got me working boss man, a workin' around the clock, I want a little drink of whiskey, you sure won't let me stop. Big boss man, can't you hear me when I call? You ain't so big, you just tall, that's just about all. I'm gonna get me a boss man, one gonna treat me right, I work hard in the daytime, sure get drunk at night. You ain't so big, you just tall, that's just about all. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:25:57 PM EST
[#16]
I've worked construction 25 years and yes the ones that use it repeatedly have usually been inside.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:30:04 PM EST
[#17]
Dad & Family also consider it an ex-convict sign / term
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:33:38 PM EST
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I've used the term before many times and heard it used many more. Never had any annotations other than usually referring to whomever was in charge (foreman, manager, CEO, customer's wife, etc). This. I've heard it all over the Northeast for decades. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:34:46 PM EST
[#19]
Pretty sure it comes from Belter Creole or just "Belter".
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:38:29 PM EST
[#20]
I hear it in the South often.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:41:52 PM EST
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Having worked in a jail, it irks me when people call me boss. Usually they don't mean any harm by it and probably don't understand what it means in jail. For the uninitiated, it means "Sorry Son Of a Bitch" spelled backwards. It IS common here in Texas, and was one of the things I had to get over after moving, especially when the context is very different. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:43:33 PM EST
[#22]
 Grateful Dead - "Big Boss Man" - Grateful Dead 'Skull & Roses' (1971) |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:45:36 PM EST
[#23]
Here, and when I lived in AZ people used the term boss, like you'd use dude or buddy.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:47:14 PM EST
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Having worked in a jail, it irks me when people call me boss. Usually they don’t mean any harm by it and probably don’t understand what it means in jail. For the uninitiated, it means “Sorry Son Of a Bitch” spelled backwards. So...Ofay More-or-less ? |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:48:04 PM EST
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Having worked in a jail, it irks me when people call me boss. Usually they don't mean any harm by it and probably don't understand what it means in jail. For the uninitiated, it means "Sorry Son Of a Bitch" spelled backwards. I'm skeptical, considering the historical high illiteracy rate among convicts, particularly black ones. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:50:30 PM EST
[#26]
It's convict slang.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:53:06 PM EST
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That's why I always felt like it was racial It never ruffled my feathers. I treat pretty much everybody the same |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:53:42 PM EST
[#28]
I’ve used the term ever since I watched Cool Hand Luke.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:55:03 PM EST
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Old Southern slang IMO. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 3:58:54 PM EST
[#30]
Southern IMO. Same connotation as being called Chief or Hoss.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:00:50 PM EST
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I’ve used the term ever since I watched Cool Hand Luke. I'm shaking it boss!  I'm Shakin It Boss! |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:01:40 PM EST
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It's convict slang. I have been called that many times. By people who have been incarcerated so that’s a thing. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:02:41 PM EST
[#33]
Similar to El Jeffe, you the "boss man", lead on the team, head worker, foreman. Well known, but different strokes, different folks. Otherwise the man with the pen in his pocket. He could be in the hole with you, and if needed he will be there, but most days he'll just be supervising from on high.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:03:21 PM EST
[#34]
I call my boss, Boss Lady. But we also work in a prison.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:07:26 PM EST
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: So...Ofay More-or-less ? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Having worked in a jail, it irks me when people call me boss. Usually they don't mean any harm by it and probably don't understand what it means in jail. For the uninitiated, it means "Sorry Son Of a Bitch" spelled backwards. So...Ofay More-or-less ? |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:09:26 PM EST
[#36]
I call my boss “boss”
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:09:31 PM EST
[#37]
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:10:03 PM EST
[#38]
Ain’t no bosmang here, kopeng
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:13:04 PM EST
[#39]
It's an old, Southern, black man thing.
Of course, a substantial percentage of old, Southern, black men have done time, so there's that. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:13:04 PM EST
[#40]
Boss, boss man, chief, cap'n, guy, fellow, dude, man, etc. I've heard those all more times than I could ever count over the years. It might mean something in the corrections system, but it is certainly used on the outside by folks who've never personally been incarcerated.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:13:31 PM EST
[#41]
Where I am, it is definitely an indicator of former incarceration.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:14:32 PM EST
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I've worked construction 25 years and yes the ones that use it repeatedly have usually been inside. As a project manager I’ve been called boss many times on job sites. Some of the guys have tattoos that indicate they did some time, some I know have never been arrested, and others I don’t know. I suspect that it’s origins were in the south, and that it moved throughout the country during reconstruction. Guys heard it on jobs and picked it up, using the terms themselves despite not being from the south. The prison system contained enough blacks (and whites) who migrated north for work that it took root there as well. I hear it from guys who are white, black, and hispanic, both from guys I know as friends and guys I don’t really know at all. I’ve probably used the word myself. I don’t know for sure, but certainly can’t swear I’ve never called anyone boss. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:14:44 PM EST
[#43]
Southern slang. Most of the guys under me call me Boss or Bossman, no disrespect intended. Most of the guys are born and raised around NC or SC, except one Pakistani guy, his family immigrated to NYC where he lived until recently moving to NC at age 40. None of them are convicts.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:17:50 PM EST
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Having worked in a jail, it irks me when people call me boss. Usually they don’t mean any harm by it and probably don’t understand what it means in jail. For the uninitiated, it means “Sorry Son Of a Bitch” spelled backwards.  Attached File |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:20:59 PM EST
[#45]
I look so much like a cop I hear it a lot from people who have spent time in jail.
Time to cut back on coffee & donuts. |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:21:10 PM EST
[#46]
Big Boss Man--The orginal version was by Jimmy Reed, 1960
 Jimmy Reed - Big Boss Man  Kentucky Headhunters - Big Boss Man |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:21:27 PM EST
[#47]
Southern thing; I get called that often enough.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:22:14 PM EST
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'd go with "country". An employee of mine is Pennsylvania country, and he calls me "Boss man". I had him on speaker and my daughter heard him, now she calls me "Boss man". This. Have heard it plenty, used it myself plenty, never thought of it as uniquely or particularly "southern." Definitely never saw it as uniquely or particularly "inmate." |
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:22:59 PM EST
[#49]
Southern. Never even knew about the jail context until this thread.
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Posted: 9/6/2023 4:23:43 PM EST
[#50]
I used to get called that a lot. Now it's El Jefe
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