Meaning of mama's baby, papa's maybe | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Alternative letter-case form of mama's baby, papa's maybe.
   alt-of
2. It is easy to know the biological mother of a child, but difficult to be sure who the biological father is.

Examples

““Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe” is how the black feminist critic Hortense Spillers describes the reproductive burdens of black women, and her words certainly seem to apply to Sally Hemings's experience.”

“As David Buss states in his book The Dangerous Passion, there's an African phrase that captures this male fear: “Mama's baby, papa's maybe.””

“His approach to unity is based on the theses of a Swiss lawyer-macrohistorian, Johan Bachofen, a US anthropologist, Lewis M. Morgan, a German macrohistorian, Friedrich Engels, and deep knowledge of Greek drama. Why the latter? Because it reflects the matriarchy-patriarchy contradiction after the first form recognized by Bachofen, promiscuity. They are all variations on the perennial theme "mama's baby, papa's maybe".”

“The enormous value that patriarchal cultures and religions place on female virginity has roots in biology. We’ve all heard the saying, “Mama’s baby, Papa’s maybe.””

“Because men experience "paternity uncertainty" ("Mama's baby, Papa's maybe"), they're more distressed by sexual infidelity, which could chump them into raising a kid who'll pass on some other dude's genes.”

“What the guys all say? Mama’s baby, Papa’s maybe. Nah—I seen that nose, and she mine.”

““[…] Your name is Chiquita?” […] “That’s Spanish for petite or small. You part Mexican?” / I laughed. “Not that I know of, but you never know. Mama’s baby, Papa’s maybe.””

“As far as the request for a DNA test I was sort of taken aback. The old but familiar saying, ‘Mama’s baby, Papa’s maybe’ jumped into my head.”

CEFR level