August 23, 1999

mack daddy

What does "MacDaddy" mean anyway?

The expression mack daddy, as it is usually spelled, has a few senses. The earliest one, and the origin, is 'a man who is a successful pimp or violent criminal'.

This use was apparently popularized by an anonymous African-American song of the 1950s or earlier, celebrating (and titled) "The Great MacDaddy," a flashy and successful pimp. This use of MacDaddy as a name is probably from the earlier mack 'a pimp' and daddy, as a form of address in jive talk. The term gained currency in rap music by the late 1980s or so, when it also began to spread in mainstream language.

Mack daddy is also used in some other senses parallel to extended senses of mack. One is 'a good-looking man; a ladies' man; playboy'. Another is 'a person, especially a man, who is influential, intelligent, successful, etc.'. This is a favorite partly because of an example published in a 1995 collection of college slang: "Jane Austen is the mack-daddy of English literature."

Who knew pimp songs could lead to that?