# I ain't no hollaback...bananas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207 "2005-07-05T23:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/41 "2005-08-06T08:09:43Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > So she hasn’t been saying “I ain’t no Harlem black girl”? I was confused, because it is common knowledge Gwen is a gorgeous blonde from California. Right up until this very moment I’d have sworn I didn’t recognise the song being mentioned in this thread, but THAT interpretation of the lyric made the little lightbulb go on over my head. I hear this song on the radio a lot, and up until last night all I’ve ever heard was ‘because there ain’t no harm in that, girl’…then last night it came on while I was driving and I thought “huh, maybe it’s ‘because I ain’t no Harlem black girl’…” So now I know the song you’re speaking of. And am even more perplexed. Of course, it’s not at all helped by the fact I can’t understand basically any of the lyrics except for the ones I’d proudly identified as ‘aint no harm in that, girl’. /sigh ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/42 "2005-08-06T16:21:16Z")
They discussed this song on the radio a few days ago. The announcer said that it’s basically saying that Gwen heard a vapid cheerleader talking about her, and she’s not going to bother to verbally reply (no holla back)-- she’s just going to kick your ass. “The shit is bananas” means that it’s ridiculous, and the cheer is way of mocking her rival. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/43 "2005-08-06T16:35:10Z")
Radio stations appear to be torn between those who will play “This is my sh–” and those that will cut it all the way down to “This is my.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/44 "2005-08-06T21:08:55Z")
I just heard part of the song again today. Gwen’s definitely talking about fighting some cheerleader after school, but the nature of a “hollaback girl” may never become clear. [For the record, it was a “this is my shhhhhht” edit.] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/45 "2005-08-12T23:02:13Z")
Reviving this to add the following note from AOLnews: > [@](#): > > Listeners have noted similarities to everything from L.A.‘s Hollenbeck gang to simply someone hollerin’ back. Gwen Stefani, who sings the hit song, says it means whatever you want it to. I’m interpreting this to mean “I don’t know, I didn’t come up with it.” ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/46 "2005-08-13T02:27:58Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m interpreting this to mean “I don’t know, I didn’t come up with it.” What a copout. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/47 "2005-08-13T03:00:19Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#): > > What a copout. No kidding. Gone are the days when people at least _tried_ to write songs that mean something, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/48 "2005-08-13T03:13:27Z")
Wow, the only two times I ever heard this song, I thought she was saying, “I ain’t no **Hollenbeck** girl,” thinking she was referring in a derogatory way to the LA neighborhood. I’ve never even heard the term hollaback. I am _so_ feeling my age right now. _Joining UrbanChic in doddering away on my walker…_ ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207/49 "2005-08-13T03:27:58Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > I still don’t know what you’re talking about. Reference to Daddy Yankee’s _“Gasolina”_, a track often paired with Hollaback Girl in the clubs – basically in this track, the rapper brags, and the girl moans back at him, that she’s always asking him to “give her more gas”. If I understand correctly this season’s NewYoRican-speak, the phrase, by analogy with accelerating your car, has an street meaning of givin’ it to your woman “harder, faster”. The phrase “le gusta la gasolina” does have a safer, family-audience slang meaning, of someone who likes to cruise around in your ride, thus rendering the track air-safe as a tale of a girl who’s into guys with fast wheels. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-aint-no-hollaback-bananas/311207.md?page=2)