The phrase "Thanks for having my back" comes from where?

Question

Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I am unable to get a good feel for its meaning and derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share?
Cheers,
Darrell

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Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I am unable to get a good feel for its meaning and derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share?[/nq]
Sure: it appears a couple thousand people mistyped "me". Whoop-de-do.
Charles Riggs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I ... derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share?[/nq]
[nq:1]Sure: it appears a couple thousand people mistyped "me". Whoop-de-do. Charles Riggs[/nq]
That's what I thought when I saw the question, but on reading a few posts that contain the phrase it seems to mean something along the lines of "thanks for supporting me" or "thanks for making sure that I am not attacked from behind". It's not a phrase I've encountered.

Regards,
Arfur

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I am unable to get a good feel for its meaning and derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share?[/nq]
Since I'm not familiar with it either, my first thought was to compare it to the straight "thanks for having me back," but no that has fewer hits. Yours does seem to be a modern slang phrase, with a different meaning.
As long as I stuck to the form "Thanks for having my back," I couldn't deduce any meaning except gratitude (it didn't seem to be sarcastic). Such as:
Jenna- Ali ! you've always been there to help me out with little ******* hehe thanks for having my back ! cause you know id have urs !
I've learned in the past that searching on "NewSlangTerm because" (or cause or cuz) can be illuminating because the speaker explains his or her statement. But this wasn't enough; I got things like:

MORSOL!!welcome back man, its good to see you!!
stay in touch and thanks for having my back because ppl like him ruin games like this.
Next, I considered that different forms of "have my back" might turn up as an active phrase. It showed up in a current song, without "thanks":

Meet me at the Southside
Baby we can go hide
Knowin that mah boys goin
have my back
(yeah-eeh-yeah)
Only at the Southside girl
(Southside, eh-eeh-eh)
Southside
I thought of the possibility that "have my back" is related to "watch my back" in a military or fighting sense to stand on guard, to protect someone as they set out on some dangerous mission. Like "Cover me" give me covering fire.
And that seems to be close, although some of the hits suggest it's more active actually taking vengeance, not just being prepared to.

On my first night in jail, at the age of fifteen, a Mexican kid came over to where I was standing by
myself in the day room, trying to hide behind an
arrogant pose, and asked if I was jailwise. Not
wanting to appear inexperienced, I said that I was, but the Mexican, obviously convinced that I was not, proceeded to enlighten me. Among other things, he
advised me to hang with my own kind (i.e., race) or else when trouble occurred no one would have my
back, and he explained the diplomatic niceties of
the racial divide, saying that whenever (snip more jail etiquette)

And some script uses the two terms close together:

And Alcatraz, remember when you were Kaiser's **** and then TK's lap dog? Who brought you into the
Nation? I did. Now, I am in trouble and none of you has the decency to have my back? Where's the
loyalty?
(Franchise is steaming now and slams his fist on the desk...and again...and again...)
Where is the *** loyalty?! Don't ever let that *** happen again. I expect each and every one of
you to watch my back just as I watch each of yours. Don't let me down again.
My guess is that people in the chatrooms are thanking others for standing up for them, loyally taking their side in arguments. Does that fit?

Best Donna Richoux

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Donna Richoux filted:
[nq:1]Next, I considered that different forms of "have my back" might turn up as an active phrase. It showed up ... can go hide Knowin that mah boys goin have my back (yeah-eeh-yeah) Only at the Southside girl (Southside, eh-eeh-eh) Southside[/nq]
And in the theme song for "Teen Titans", sung in English and in Japanese by Puffy Amiyumi:
When there's trouble you know who to call
TEEN TITANS!
From their tower they can see it all
TEEN TITANS!
When there's evil on the attack
You can rest knowing they got your back
'Cause when the world is losing all control
TEEN TITANS, GO!
I should warn people inclined to seek it out that this song is a severe STS trigger..r

Usenet · Answer

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[nq:1]Since I'm not familiar with it either, my first thought was to compare it to the straight "thanks for having me back," but no that has fewer hits. Yours does seem to be a modern slang phrase, with a different meaning.[/nq]
Thanks very much for your thoughts and research.
For the context, in my instance it was used by a southerner/US Marine/police officer (Texas) background in an email expressing gratitude for someone pointing out an awkward error so he could fix it, so it may have been from one of those backgrounds. First time it was used I dismissed it as a typo, second time it was used I looked it up in Google but was frustrated in getting the derivation or etymology.

Cheers,
Darrell

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Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I ... derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share?[/nq]
[nq:1]Since I'm not familiar with it either, my first thought was to compare it to the straight "thanks for having ... in the chatrooms are thanking others for standing up for them, loyally taking their side in arguments. Does that fit?[/nq]
Definitely. Episode 4-15 of the West Wing (Inauguration II - Over There) has POTUS say :
"I got this intelligence summary this afternoon. "Mothers are standing in front of
tanks." And we're going to go get their backs."
Meaning "We're going to protect them from retaliation."

I hear "I've got your back" more than "I have your back".
John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I am unable to get a good feel for its meaning and derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share? Cheers, Darrell[/nq]
And there's "watch your back" or "watch my back". "Thanks for watching my back." They are of a similar slant.
Cheers, Sage

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Google has around 2200 entries for this phrase but I ... derivation. Anyboy have some thoughts they would care to share?[/nq]
[nq:1]Since I'm not familiar with it either, my first thought was to compare it to the straight "thanks for having me back," but no that has fewer hits. Yours does seem to be a modern slang phrase, with a different meaning.[/nq]
This is a lot of hullabaloo, I think, over an obvious typo. There is no such expression in the English language as "Thanks for having my back". It has nothing to do with "covering my back", as some have surmised. It is a case of Google reporting the chatterings of half-literates, mostly youngsters, as anyone will see if he takes a look at a smattering of the 2000 hits. Shirley, we have better things to do than discuss this sort of crapola.

Charles Riggs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Since I'm not familiar with it either, my first thought ... to be a modern slang phrase, with a different meaning.[/nq]
[nq:1]This is a lot of hullabaloo, I think, over an obvious typo. There is no such expression in the English ... at a smattering of the 2000 hits. Shirley, we have better things to do than discuss this sort of crapola.[/nq]
I think there is such a saying. Imagine the scenario. "Don't worry about it, I've got your back" -Common phrase. *things occur in which someone else has someone's back (covered)* "Thanks for having my back in there. I needed that" Its a bit ugly, but it conveys the meaning perfectly well.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It is a case of Google reporting the chatterings of half-literates, mostly youngsters,[/nq]
Sorry, I disagree, in my case there were two emails directed to me personally using this phrase by a very literate writer with a popular weblog, who is working in senior management and heading for early retirement.
Cheers,
Darrell

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The phrase "Thanks for having my back" comes from where?

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