Green’s Dictionary of Slang

wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am phr.

also gangbang, thank you ma’am; ram, bam, thank you ma’am; slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am; whambam; wham-blam-thank-you-ma’am; wham-wham-wham
[echoic]

1. epitomizing brief sexual intercourse intended on the whole for male satisfaction only; similarly used in homosexual context (see cit. 2003).

[[US]Paul Whiteman [instrumental title] Wham, wham, re, bop, boom, bam].
[US] joke cited in G. Legman Rationale of the Dirty Joke (1972) I 199: A little rabbit whose method with his girlfriends is ‘Wham bam, thank you, Mam.’.
[US]M. Shulman Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 89: [W]hat was your plot – to hop in bed with me, hop right out again, and get home before Grace does? Wham, bam, thank you ma’am?
[US](con. 1930s) R. Barber Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968) 200: He ain’t no wham-bam stage-door johnny. He wants to marry you!
[UK]G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 111: ‘Ram, bam, thank you ma’am,’ I said.
[US]T. Conway [bk title] The Wham! Bam! Thank You, Ma’am Affair.
[US]J. Bouton Ball Four 218: Baseball players are not, by and large, the best dates. We prefer wham, bam, thank-you-mam affairs.
[Aus]D. Williamson What If You Died Tomorrow (1977) I i: The wham-wham-wham stuff only lasted nine months.
[US]J. Lahr Hot to Trot 120: I’d never go to a whore. Slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am.
[US]K. Vacha Quiet Fire 67: Usually it’s wham, bam, thank you ma’am, which we feel is wrong.
[UK]K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 59: ‘No net-play. Just wham-bam, thank you, ma’am.’ The other women at the table tittered in agreement.
[US]N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 401: It was supposed to be a quick hit-and-forget, a slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am.
[UK]G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 87: It was gangbang, thank you ma’am, and that was that story finished. [Ibid.] 345: He climaxed very quickly. He was very whambam.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 2 June 1: She brought feminism into the bedroom, dealing a huge blow to the wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am culture.
[US]G. Tate Midnight Lightning 54: The relationships he had with women were not just of the whambam variety.

2. anything, in a non-sexual sense, that has to be done quickly and perfunctorily.

[US]Heggen & Logan Mister Roberts Ii i: Well, there goes the liberty. That was sure a wham-bam-thank you ma’am!
[UK]N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 91: Everything was impetus. Murray the K, wham bam thankyou mam.
[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 75: This had to be wham-bam-thank-you-Ma’am because I had to get back to New York.
[US]J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 109: They caught the guys wham, blam, thank you ma’am.
[Ire]P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 12: We’re talking Wham, Bam, that’s for the old dear’s waterford Crystal limited edition votive, Ma’am.
[US]J. MacArthur ‘Jack Rabbit Slim’s Cellar’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] Gotta hand it to you [...] Wham. Bam. And thank you, ma’am.

3. attrib. use of sense 2.

[US]L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 55: The MC5 might have put you ‘flat on your back’ with ‘nipple stiffeners’ and ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ jams.
[UK]Indep. Information 16–22 Oct. 57: Wolfgang Petersen’s wham-bam-thank-you-mam thriller.
posting at www.devhood.com 29 Jan. 🌐 People who go through wham-bam-thankyou-ma’am programs that teach them how to ‘use’ said languages do gain valuable experience in developing larger-scale applications than the ‘Hello, World’ variety.

4. thank you, usu. cynical.

[UK]G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 111: ‘Ram, bam, thank you ma’am,’ I said.