The thread title is a meme-type phrase repeated in an inordinate number of fictional works, generally by a ten or tween, occasionally a young adult, either seriously or playfully or ironically, in place of the more natural “You aren’t/you’re not my boss.” I’m presuming it’s a quote/callback/reference to the expression in a semi-famous/“cultural literacy” recognized work that I happen never to have encountered. Would anyone be able to tie down the origin of the usage?
Note to Mods.: Even I can see that this is a natural fit for Cafe SXociety. I’m starting it in GQ nonetheless because (a) it may elicit answers from a few knowledgeable GQ denizens who don’t peruse CS; and (b) I really want to tap into samclem’s superb databse. Please leave it in GQ until sam has had a chance to check it out; feel free to move it thereafter if you see it as a better fit for CS (as I presume you’re likely to). Thanks.
Certainly popularized by They Might be Giants’s “Boss of Me,” which was the theme song for Malcolm in the Middle and won a Grammy in 2002.
I remember my younger brother screaming it at me when he was six or seven, long before Malcolm in the Middle came out. As far as I know, he hadn’t heard it anywhere— it was just the best way he knew how to phrase the idea with his not-fully-developed sense of grammar.
Couple of early cites from Google ngram viewer
South by West - 1874
The Church - 1883
London Society - 1889
There is a sharp increase in occurrences of this phrase starting in the mid-1970’s, from where it has climbed steadily ever since.
This was a commonly heard playground protest decades ago in my youth.
ETA: i.e, the 70’s, which corresponds with the previous poster’s information.
I don’t think a child’s phrase being unnatural means it must be from something. Children’s speech is usually littered with awkward, unnatural phrases like “He hitted me.” or “There’s seven sheeps in the outside.”
“The boss of me” doesn’t sound so strange when you consider that kids might hear similar phrases like “the boss of the school” or “the boss of the playground.”
My sister used this phrase when she was small, and I don’t recall it deriving from any fictional source. I think it may simply be a cmmon construction for a child to come up with in English, in much the way Chessic suggests. A 5-year-old who has learned the words and basic format of English, but not the nuances, might simply put this together naturally.
It was a common playground retort when I was in elementary school back in the 50’s.
I am fairly certain that this was used as a come back line in a 40s-50s era Looney Tunes cartoon and I suspect that they were referencing a well known older phrase themselves.
I’d like to claim credit for this, but I actually found it linked in this Language Log article from 2009.
Also post #4 of this thread.
I’m not sure I’d call “He hitted me” or “there’s seven sheeps …” awkward. They are, rather, consistent application of grammatical rules made by someone who doesn’t know the exceptions yet. “Hit” is in the minority of English verbs that do not change inflection in the past tense, just as “sheep” is in the minority of nouns whose singular and plural forms are identical. Kids aren’t being illogical when they use the variants you suggest.