Who Dey
Who Dey is the name of a chant of support by fans of the Cincinnati Bengals, an American football team. The entire
chant is: "Who dey! Who dey! Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?" The answer screamed in unison, "Nobody!". "Who Dey" is also
the name of the team’s mascot, a Bengal tiger.
Origins
Although the exact origin of the phrase is disputed, it had been made popular by 1981 in Bengals fans’ cheers for their team during their run to Super Bowl XVI. Some fans would do the chant and other fans would reply, “Nobody!”. The cheer again gained national recognition in their 1989 appearance in Super Bowl XXIII. Due to the success of the Bengals team in the 2005 season, the chant is again gaining popularity. Different theories of the origin of the chant exist. One possible source is a 1980 commercial for Red Frazier Ford of Cincinnati, which used this tagline: “Who's going to give you a better deal than Red Frazier? Nobody!” Cincinnati fans who had seen the commercial many times may have just copied it when cheering. The point of origin that has been disputed on a local Cincinnati radio station is that the phrase came due to a locally distributed beer at the time called Hudepohl. It is said that as beer vendors went up and down aisles at the Bengals games during their first run at the Super Bowl, instead of yelling out "Beer here!" or some other call to let fans know that they had beer, they would yell out "Hudy!" as an abbreviation of Hudepohl.
The chant of "Who Dat? Who dat say they gonna beat dem Saints?" originated in minstrel shows and vaudeville acts of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and was then taken up by jazz and big band performers in the 1920s and 30s. It became a familiar joke with soldiers during World War II and such. Finally, it was adapted by Southern University and New Orleans public schools in the 1960s. Saints fans trace Who Dat back to the late 1970's and even have Saint's merchandise and promotional items from Rally's Hamburgers to prove it.
-There are a small group of Michigan State Spartans fans who are beginning to use "Who dey!" for their purposes. One spartan fan will yell "Who Dey!" with the answer, "Spartans!" This refers to Michigan State's Football program being underrated, and being stuck behind the University of Michigan and beginning to make their own image for tough spartan football.
Trivia
The Pittsburgh Steelers under former coach Bill Cowher have infamously developed their own version of the chant when facing the Bengals, where they answer the questions "Who Dey?" with "We Dey!"
External links
- Bengals.com - Who Dey's bio at bengals.com
References
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
