Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) a ritual game of testing a rival’s emotional strength by insulting his various relatives, esp. his mother, and taking similar insults in return; the insults are usu. sexual and/or scatological; thus the common addition of the adj. dirty; also attrib.

1914		Indianapolis Freeman 21 Nov. 6: We are tied of hearing a performer ‘Play the Dozens.’ We are disgusted with the hurlesquing of our good women.
1919		Current Opinion Sept. in Abrahams (1964) n.p.: [song title] The Dirty Dozens.
1919		G. Gray in Oliver Screening the Blues (1968) 237: Oh the old dirty dozen, / The old dirty dozen.
1929		Speckled Red [song title] The Dirty Dozen.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 331/2: dozens, n. A slighting rhyme relating to one’s parentage; series of vulgar and profane epithets.
1945		C. Himes If He Hollers 122: Pigmeat turned to Smitty and said, ‘Now that’s that man’s own business. S’pose he tell you he was with you mama’ ‘I don’t play no dozens, boy,’ Smitty growled.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 230: The hip language was one kind of verbal horseplay [...] Lots of other games sprang up for the same reason: snagging, rhyming, the dirty dozens, cutting contests.
1958		W.B. Miller ‘Gang Delinquency’ in Short Gang Delinquency and Delinquent Subcultures (1968) 142: The highly ritualized type of mutual insult interchange known as ‘the dirty dozens’.
1960		N.Y. Citizen-Call 30 July 19: An etymologist might be led to define ‘The Dozens’ as the ‘Science of Disparaging One’s Ancestors’ [...] Research reveals that the Dozens were of American slave origin and took the place of physical assault by the ‘field slaves’ on the more favored ‘house slaves’ on Southern plantations [...] It was during the 1920’s ‘[...] that some unknown blues pianist and singer composed an uncopyrighted tune called “The Dirty Dozens” complete with words, which because of their very nature never got on paper. But at barrelhouse and buffet flat rent parties “The Dirty Dozens” became the rage’.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 120: We have a game we got we call the dozens. Like the brothers play it no ofay has that gift or the wit, and since whitey ain’t worth but half a black I’m gon play you the half-dozens.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 18: Just running a lil’ game of the dozens.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 106: Playing a game called the dozens, in which the idea is to see how outrageously you can insult the other fellow.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 7: White man [...] said that doing the dozens was this thing we been doin’ for generations. Called it the precursor of rap music.
2006		C.W. Ford Deuce’s Wild 243: Tommy Mervin, the best ‘dozens’ player on my block came to my rescue when an older kid name Jared began hitting hard on my mother.
2012		(con. 1968-69) D. Spivey ‘If You Were Only White’ 271: [Hank] loved to play the dozens with Paige, ribbing him from time to time, and Paige wisecracking back at him, with both of them laughing and admiring the other’s retort.