Your mother wears army boots

"Your mother wears army boots" is a jeer, typically delivered as a retort to an insulting remark. It supplanted the earlier "Your father's moustache!" The precise meaning, if any, behind the phrase has been debated. However, earliest known usage dates to the years after World War II. The jeer followed a period which saw the establishment of the Women's Army Corps (WAC), although in positions that would not involve army boots, and a shift of women to the workplace while the men were drafted, as exemplified by Rosie the Riveter. 
Usage of the phrase and similar jeers went from military journals (The Rip Chord) to various humor columns, daily life, and inevitably, comedy and cartoons. To accentuate the comedy, the line was often delivered in a Bronx or Brooklyn accent, as "Yer mudder wears army boots!" By the 1970s, as women in the armed forces became more normalized, the taunt became even more nonsensical. It continued in pop culture, but as a joke, a cliched insult. 
==References==
* A set photo from the first season of Sesame Street shows that the phrase "Oscar Wears Army Boots" has been written in chalk on the construction doors leading to Big Bird's nest. It appeared in the season finale and a summer promo for the program's Parent/Teachers Guides.Behind the scenes photo
* Sir Avery of Macho, during his insult match with Sweetums in The Muppet Show episode 116, says "Your mother wears open-toed combat boots!"
* The script for Sesame Street Episode 1090 includes a deleted exchange when Oscar the Grouch, having emptied his trash can of metal objects, goes through the metal detector again (but unlike the final episode, inside the can). When the machine goes off, he says "I swear on my mother's army boots..."
* The talking spaghetti in the Muppet Meeting Film "Meal Break" tells Grump, "Hey, yer mudder eats old army shoes!" 
* Oscar, arguing with his dummy Crummy in Episode 1144, says "Yer mother wears army boots." Crummy responds, "So what? She's in the army."
* Oscar, on the telephone in his capacity as Dial-a-Grouch operator in Episode 1715, says "Oh, yeah? Well, your mother wears army boots!"
==Sources==
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Category:Joke References