When I was growing up in New York City—Washington Heights to be specific—these were fighting words. They got said a lot. Someone would make an insulting comment to someone else, and the insultee would say, “You want to make something of it?” (Actually it came out sounding more like you wanna . . . ). And if the original guy said, “Yeah, I do wanna make something of it,” then they would start pushing each other and maybe escalate to something more. …
