Talk:go ham

Etymology

I don't see any reason to think the etymology is correct, and it's unsourced. The vast majority of "acronym decomposition" etymologies are clearly fabricated after the fact and this is a very good candidate, given that "ham" is already a word! Kylebgorman (talk) 17:10, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

At least one rando on the internet agrees with you. --75.12.81.89 03:37, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

There is absolutely zero chance it's correct. The phrase predates the song by decades. I'm removing it as patently spurious. --Jemiller226 (talk) 16:39, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

this link supports this claim that the etymology is false: https://slang.net/meaning/go_ham#:~:text=Some%20believe%20the%20ham%20in,and%20Kanye%20West%20song%20%22H.A.M.%22 104.220.249.66 04:06, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Go berserk

See the initial section of this podcast for an AAVE speaker who uses go ham in place of either go berserk or run amok. He references Jewish dietary laws but not any sense that it might be vulgar or otherwise offensive. — LlywelynII 03:33, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Possible link to etymology?

EtymOnline has this:

ham (v.)

"over-act in performance," 1933, from ham (n.2). Related: Hammed; hamming. As an adjective in this sense by 1935.

No direct entry on "go ham", unfortunately. 91.186.71.2 09:28, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

RFC discussion: September 2022–March 2024

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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go ham

The etymology for this is definitely wrong. This phrase was known to my extremely white, baby boomer parents long before any song lyric included the phrase. We've removed the etymology before only to have it pop back up even more elaborately than before; it's time to stop this. Jemiller226 (talk) 02:42, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

Possible cite from 1932? https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Great_Magoo/Zo8PAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=great+magoo+%22go+ham%22&dq=great+magoo+%22go+ham%22&printsec=frontcover

Ioaxxere (talk) 03:28, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

I missed this reply, but thank you; I've edited the entry. Sadly, because this isn't definitive, I expect it will be reverted soon enough. Jemiller226 (talk) 05:19, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Resolved. @Jemiller226, take a look? Ioaxxere (talk) 17:38, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Well that's certainly better than the revised entry I made. Thanks! Jemiller226 (talk) 21:45, 27 March 2024 (UTC)