Editing Dozens (game) (section)

===Etymology===
The term ''dozens'' has long been debated as to its [[etymology]], with [[urban legend]] abounding. The first academic treatment of the Dozens was made in 1939 by [[Yale University|Yale]]-based psychologist and social theorist [[John Dollard]], who described the importance of the game among African-American men, and how it is generally played. Dollard's description is considered pioneering and accurate.<ref name=jordan>Jordan, Larry (1983). "Social Construction as Tradition: A Review and  Reconceptualization of the Dozens", ''Review of Research in Education'', Vol. 10, pp. 79–101.</ref> Dollard originally wrote that he was unaware of how the term ''dozens'' developed, although he suggested a popular twelve-part rhyme may have been the reason for its name. He only speculated on how the game itself grew to such prominence. ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]'' claims the origin, first attested in 1928, is probably from {{wikt-lang|en|bulldoze}}, in the original sense of {{Gloss|a beating or thrashing}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/dozen#etymonline_v_14004 |title=Dozen |author=Harper, Douglas |date=2023 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref>

Other authors following Dollard have added their theories; author [[John Leland (journalist)|John Leland]] describes an etymology, writing that the term is a modern [[dialect]]al survival of an English verb —''to dozen''— dating back to at least the 14th century and meaning {{Gloss|to stun, stupefy, daze}} or {{Gloss|to make insensible, torpid, powerless}}.<ref name="leland2004">Leland, p. 173.</ref>

Author and professor [[Mona Lisa Saloy]] theorizes a different etymology in "African American Oral Traditions in Louisiana" (1998):

<blockquote>The dozens has its origins in the slave trade of [[New Orleans]] where deformed slaves—generally slaves punished with mutilation for disobedience—were grouped in lots of a 'cheap dozen' for sale to slave owners. For a Black to be sold as part of the 'dozens' was the lowest blow possible.<ref>Saloy, Mona Lisa, [http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_african_am_oral.html#tab2 "African American Oral Traditions in Louisiana"], Folklife in Louisiana (1998). Retrieved November 12, 2009.</ref></blockquote>