Sell wolf tickets, also found as sell woof tickets, means to make loud, boastful threats without much behind them. In African American English, the companion phrase buy wolf tickets means to take those threats seriously. Geneva Smitherman, a Michigan State University professor who has studied the expression, connects it with a dog “wolfing” at night: plenty of bark, not much bite. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “African American Slang “Selling Woof Tickets” Is About Boastful, Idle Threats”
Do you know the expression selling wolf tickets?
Selling wolf tickets?
Yeah.
Yes, I do.
It’s something to do with provoking a fight?
Sort of like threatening in a boastful manner.
And it’s a sample of African-American slang, according to Geneva Smitherman, who’s done a lot of research on this kind of thing.
Wolf tickets goes back to the idea of a dog wolfing at night, and if you’re selling wolf tickets, then you’re just making idle threats.
Or if you’re buying wolf tickets, then you’re taking the threat seriously.
You’re believing the boasts.
Yeah.
So W-O-O-F, not W-O-L-F.
I’ve seen it both ways, but I think it’s originally wolf, like just a dog barking incessantly.
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