A listener wonders about the origin of the phrase “your father’s mustache,” akin to the phrase “go jump in a lake,” or “your mamma wears combat boots.” Grant explains that it may sound more familiar as “your fadda’s mustache,” circa 1930s, Brooklyn. The borough’s own jazz musician Woody Herman had a hit song in 1945 called Your Father’s Mustache, but those in the know pronounced it “FAH-duh.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Your Father’s Mustache”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Justin calling from Indianapolis.
Hi, Justin.
Hey, Justin, what’s up?
Hi, guys, how are you doing today?
Super.
Great.
And yourself?
Doing very well.
Doing very well.
A little rainy here, but that’s all right.
Yeah, yeah.
How can we help you?
Well, I had a question for you guys.
A long time ago, I was cleaning out my grandpa’s basement with him, and there was like a plaque that he had above his desk that read, your father’s mustache.
And when I asked him about it, he said that was kind of a phrase akin to, like, go jump in the lake or a pish-posh.
He’d say, oh, your father’s mustache.
And I’ve tried to use it once or twice, and I’ve gotten some eyebrow raises from my friend.
So, A, I’m wondering if I’m using it correctly and if he told me correctly, and B, I’m wondering where it came from.
Justin, I’m curious about this plaque.
Did it have hair on it?
Was it a mustache?
What else was on it?
It had a nice decaled picture of a nice twisty mustache underneath, I believe.
Was there a date or a name of a club or a group or anything on there?
No, it was actually really simple lettering.
It looked like it was homemade or something like that.
Oh, I see.
I cannot remember if it was carved.
This was when I was about 10 years old.
Interesting.
Yeah.
There’s some history here.
There was a time in America, 1930s, 40s, 50s, when you could say, well, you would say it with a Brooklyn accent.
You would say, your father’s mustache, as a way of dismissing somebody.
And this is at least from the 1930s, maybe a little earlier.
Eric Partridge, the well-known, at least in my circle, slang lexicographer, has written a little bit about this in his book of catchphrases.
And he also mentions in there that Woody Herman, the jazz composer and conductor, had a big hit in 1945, a song called Your Father’s Mustache.
And if you watch this on YouTube, there’s a video of it.
I think it was recorded years later.
But the announcer, he says something like, and now that Brooklyn folk song, your father’s mustache.
And more than one source has specifically connected it to Brooklyn, New York, and specifically mentioned that that’s how you pronounce it.
And you will often find it spelled F-A-D-D-E-R or F-A-D-D-A or F-A-D-D-A-H.
And not F-A-T-H-E-R.
So it’s your father’s mustache.
Like that, right?
Your father’s mustache.
Okay, yeah.
And it’s like the modern equivalent would be, your mama wears combat boots.
Okay.
You’ve heard that one, right?
Absolutely, I have.
Yeah, your mother, okay.
So when I pull this out of my handbag, I need to cop my Brooklyn accent.
Yeah, yeah.
Somebody says something kind of unbelievable or they’re like, they challenge you in a way that you find repugnant and you just say, your father’s mustache.
Okay, perfect.
There we go.
Excellent.
Thank you, guys.
Yeah, sure. Our pleasure.
You’ll probably still get eye raises, though.
Eyebrows will still go up.
I wear a mustache, too.
And my dad wears a mustache.
So it’s one of those things where it’s actually true if someone turns it back on me.
If they’re listening to this.
Okay.
But I don’t know how it got on that plaque, but maybe it was a joke between friends?
I’m assuming it’s some sort of white elephant gag gift they passed around at some sort of party.
And he ended up with it and hung it up in the basement where no one could see it.
One interesting side note that at some point, I believe this is in the 60s or the 70s, there was a legal case involving that expression, your father’s mustache, because it was being used by a chain of barbershops.
Really?
And I think there was some dispute as to whether or not that should be permitted, and the court said it was okay.
Oh, yeah.
That is an interesting tidbit.
That’s very cool.
I’m going to let my grandpa know that.
He’ll be completely tickled by that.
Thanks for calling, dude.
Hey, thank you guys so much.
Have a great day.
Bye-bye, Justin.
Bye-bye.
Well, if you found a linguistic heirloom and brushed it off.
Or a literal heirloom.
Or a literal heirloom.
Old plaque from your grandma or grandpa.
Brush it off, read what it says, and give us a call, 877-929-9673.
Or send Martha email to words@waywordradio.org.
