The gift that keeps on giving -- we're just not sure what

This happened because I was tired of seeing Joe wearing his favorite shirt every single day, and because I was tired of washing this shirt every other day. It is a baseball jersey from his workplace, complete with faux baseball player number and the requisite company name emblazoned where the player's name would normally be.

All my attempts to find a similar jersey in a sports store were thwarted. One place asked which team I wanted. It doesn't matter, I told the guy. I just want a baseball jersey. You can imagine the look he gave me.

So I turned to the Internet, which doesn't give looks like that. I found a site with tons of jerseys, and they had cute little sayings instead of players' names and numbers. There was even one that said "Joe." Nothing else. Just "Joe."

Perfect, I thought. It's personalized, and I don't even have to special order it. Or pay extra. It did briefly occur to me to wonder WHY there was a shirt with Joe's name on it. There was no reference to coffee, for instance. I easily dismissed my wonderings.

When the jersey came, it looked just like it had on the Web site: "Joe," written in a cute, offbeat sort of font. Then I turned the shirt over.

On the back, where there should have been just white space, it said "Mama." I am fairly certain the Web site made no mention that the back would read "Mama." I am also fairly certain that I did not request that it say "Mama."

I tried to imagine why it would say "Mama" on the back of my "Joe" shirt. I imagined another customer receiving his or her shirt and being surprised that it said absolutely nothing, because the "Mama" that was supposed to be on that shirt was on Joe's shirt.

Joe. Mama. Joe Mama. It sounded vaguely familiar. I began to suspect that this was not a mistake.

I consulted a neighbor on what the meaning of this might be, if indeed there was some meaning. Her husband suggested that it was a take on "Your Mama." This was worrisome. Was this some sort of gang-related lingo? An insult? Was this jersey something that, for safety's sake, Joe should not wear outside the house?

We set about educating ourselves on the term "Joe Mama," turning to the many enlightening Web sites that are long on urban knowledge but appear to regard correct spelling and punctuation as optional. We were alternately cheered and horrified by what we read. "Joe Mama" is an insult. "Joe Mama" is "frequently used in banter between friends." "Joe Mama" means "to be annoying, or make someone else mad." Said five times, it can be used as a way to "avoid listening to the negative, or worthless, comments of other people."

Joe was emboldened by this last revelation. Never again would he have to suffer the agonies of listening to a social boor! He could merely wear his new shirt, and when encountered by someone making negative or worthless comments, simply turn around every few minutes to let the person know: "I am cleverly avoiding listening to the negative, and worthless, things you are saying."

Unless, of course, the person is as clueless as we are.