Talk to your boy

"Talk to your boy" is a common slang phrase that briefly rose to national prominence during the 1996 U.S. Presidential election, when it was used by Republican candidate Alan Keyes. The phrase is invoked when a person's "friend-of-a-friend" is being disrespectful or acting improperly, and that person asks their friend to correct the unfamiliar person.

Keyes' case

During a press conference shortly after Keyes had announced his candidacy, Keyes was being asked increasingly skeptical questions by a young reporter from the Times Herald-Record. Keyes had not expected this, as The Record had been one of the few media outlets at the time that was not outright critical or dismissive of his candidacy. Additionally, Jerry Smith, a senior reporter at the Herald-Record with whom Keyes was familiar, accompanied the younger reporter. After becoming flustered in trying to answer the reporter, Keyes ignored him and deferred to Smith, saying "Jerry...what is this?" several times before saying "Jerry...you better talk to your boy, Jerry. Talk to your boy." Keyes then asked for questions from other reporters present and continued the conference without further incident.cite book|last=D'Alessio| first=David|year=2003| origyear=2003 |title=An Experimental Examination of Readers' Perceptions of Media Bias |location=Chapel Hill, NC, USA|publisher=Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, v80 n2 |issn=10776990|pages=pp.289-91]

In Popular Culture

*The phrase appears in the 2008 movie Pineapple Express, when the marijuana dealer Saul is visiting his friend and supplier Red. The main character Dale Denton harasses Red over his connections to the film's villain, Ted. Red then repeatedly directs the phrase at Saul.