04/19/24
October 02, 2005
"Who dey? Who dey? Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?: The terms "Who dey" and "Who dat" are forms of traditional southern Appalachian dialect, "It is right out of the coal-mining region of southeastern Kentucky, from which a large percentage of Cincinnati's population can trace (its) ancestry," said Tankersley, an anthropologist and professor at Northern Kentucky University.
Dey stoleded dis sayin' from de Saints of the early 90's, during de best of de Jim Mora (Senior)/Bobby Hebert era? Or rather, not stolded, but maybe pickeded it up where de Saints put it down when dey stopt contendin' in ninety-and-fo' (o' so).
posted by chicobangs at 09:41 AM on October 02, 2005
Bengals used it as early as 88
posted by mick at 10:23 AM on October 02, 2005
Sounds more like Porgy and Bess - 1912 (South Carolina).
posted by drevl at 03:08 PM on October 02, 2005
Sounds like its a little early to make Super Bowl promises......especially if your The Cinncinati Bengals.....
posted by redsoxrgay at 03:28 PM on October 02, 2005
Bengals used it as early as 88 I know it was used, by the saints I think, as early as 84.
posted by justgary at 04:02 PM on October 02, 2005
wat 4 wks in the season too much predictions
posted by defrag3x at 04:03 PM on October 02, 2005
Read the article before posting incorrect information: According to a 1983 Sports Illustrated article, the "Who dey" cheer originated in the Riverfront Stadium red seats during the 1981 season.
posted by mbeck at 10:21 PM on October 02, 2005
Read the article before posting incorrect information What incorrect information? I think everyone is giving first hand accounts of their first encounter with the phrase. Nothing incorrect 'bout it. Also, unclench.
posted by justgary at 10:45 PM on October 02, 2005
defrag are you missing some letters on that keyboard?
posted by jojomfd1 at 10:47 PM on October 02, 2005
I think he's missing more than just keys y'all
posted by bharr_77 at 11:24 PM on October 02, 2005
Who cares? It is our saying and we're keeping it. You never hear who-dat anymore anyway. The announcers on tv say who-dey all the time. The Jets cheers is the only other cheer i ever hear, and they say say it cause they can't remeber how to spell it.
posted by AJ_in_BN at 09:34 AM on October 03, 2005
Apparently it is difficult to make the "th" sound with no front teeth. Texoma-slim, I'm from Kentucky, and believe it or not, I have all of my teeth. My wife is unrelated to me and my children have only five fingers and toes on each appendage. Do not start with the stereotyping bullshit. I'm damn proud of my heritage and the dialect that we speak here. Now, you got a problem wit dat?
posted by slew40484 at 10:06 AM on October 03, 2005
Sounds like its a little early to make Super Bowl promises......especially if your The Cincinnati(spelling correction mine) Bengals..... who made a Super Bowl promise?
posted by srw12 at 11:22 AM on October 03, 2005
dems fight'n words pappy. 1 mo thing. can somes 1 tell me what comes after fo when yun's is countin? dis be close to 1 of dems my team be rockin yuns team be suckin threads. i guess yuns that havnt won to many superbowls gotsta fight over somthin
posted by RZA at 11:24 AM on October 03, 2005
Who dey's been around longer than I've been alive. Always a part of the Cincinnati culture. Those crazy Bengal fans have been screaming it even when the Bengals weren't quite so shit-hot. Leave the Kentuckians alone. They pay the same price for tickets as the rest of us. Besides, Cincinnati's in Ohio, believe it or not. Not so much your team sucks/my team rocks threads, just another part of what makes football so much fun. You don't hear much coming from Great American Ballpark in the way of phrases that have stuck around for so long and through so many bad seasons.
posted by searay at 12:26 PM on October 03, 2005
Hey searay, what are you talking about? There's one phrase that comes out of The Great American Ballpark that's stuck around. Does this sound familiar? "Griffey appears to have hurt himself on the play!" and "Griffey will be undergoing season ending surgery today on his injured (insert body part here)."
posted by Desert Dog at 02:15 PM on October 03, 2005
As someone who was there.... The chant started in 1981. There was a series of used car ads on the radio that went "Who dey think they gonna give you a better price on a used car?? Nooooobody!" It was an intentionally cartoon hick voice. So, as the Bengals started winning this advertising catch phrase got turned into the Who-Dey chant. During the 88 season, it actually got turned around to "Who-Dey, Who Dey, Who dey thank they gonna beat dem Bengals when they play in the Jungle!! Go Bengals!!!!" The change reflected the words to a song that had been made, and popular during the 88 Super Bowl run. That's a funny comment from you "redsoxrgay"... About 5 years ago everyone talked about the Boston sports teams being cursed... They'd never win anything... Buckner... Piffle, not too many folks laughing at the Pats now. Time wounds all heels...
posted by LostInDaJungle at 02:27 PM on October 03, 2005
Can I just say that it bothers me when a reporter goes around his butt to find his elbow when a cursory websearch would have told him the origins of the who-dey chant?? I now know that the car commercial in question was for Red Frazier Ford, and a whole bunch of other stuff, why?? I checked the team's website. Origins of the Who-Dey chant at Bengals.com
posted by LostInDaJungle at 02:31 PM on October 03, 2005
Feel for me, as a Bengals fan. On Sunday, the Bengals-Texans game was the first live game on Sky Sports. I settled down to watch with my Bengals cap on. And halfway through the 1st quarter, I knocked the power cable out of my Sky Plus Box (trying to move the DVD player out of the way). And the Sky box wouldn't reboot properly. I had to "watch" the match on NFL.com until I finally got the box working again in the 4th quarter...
posted by salmacis at 12:14 PM on October 04, 2005
Apparently it is difficult to make the "th" sound with no front teeth.