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WMC Unspinning the Spin

mother of all...

according to the American Dialect Society's journal, American Speech, neologists have recorded more than 70 variations of the phrase, including mother of all victory parades, mother of all bagels, and mother of all mothers. "All of the mother of all forms are joke uses, or at least playful allusions to Saddam Hussein's boastful mother of all battles," says the journal. An English idiom since the 19th century, this phrase seems free of negative connotations and could be called sexist only because there is no parallel idiom for "father." If you want alternatives consider: the ultimate ..., the last word in ..., the ... to end all.... See also granddaddy/daddy of them all.


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Unspinning the Spin: The Women's Media Center Guide to Fair and Accurate Language

By Rosalie Maggio


 

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