The Who-Dey Chant

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I know this question has been posed many times on this site but Kevin Kelly of the Enquirer digs deep into the myths of the origins of the Who Dey chant.

My memories are the start being in the 1981 season, much like the article says. I always thought it was a play on words for the Hudepohl beer product, Hudy Delight, which was introduced in the late 1970's. Many people pronounced it "Hoo-Dee" Delight and I figured it was some kind of play on words. Later that year and in 1988, Hudepohl produced a special can of Who Dey Beer.

The song Who Dey Wrap, written and sung by Bengal Mike Martin and a host of others, revived this chant during the 1988 season.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...SPT02/510020350

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Who dey! It's back, but where'd it come from?

By Kevin Kelly

Enquirer staff writer

"Who dey?"

Pose it as a question. Use it as a sidewalk salutation. Direct it at those unsuspecting fans from Cleveland or Pittsburgh.

"It says so much more than just that two-syllable sound," longtime Bengals fan Trey Smith said.

The distinctive Cincinnati cheer, which dates to the 1981 Super Bowl season and beyond, is revived now the Bengals are off to a 3-0 start.

"Who dey? Who dey? Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?

"Nooooooobody!"

A fan since the organization's infancy, Middletown resident James Brown leads Bengals players and coaches in the rhythmic battle cry in the team's locker room after wins at Paul Brown Stadium. This is at the behest of coach Marvin Lewis, who saw Brown leading fans in a highlight film from the '88 season.

"As long as they do their job, we'll be singing 'Who dey' all the way to the Super Bowl," Brown said.

"I say it because I mean it. I really believe if we go out and play our game the way we've been taught, in our home stadium, we aren't going to lose. The players ain't going to let it happen."

The cheer's comeback coincided with the 2003 arrival of Lewis. That highlight film from the '88 Super Bowl season introduced Lewis to it not long after he was hired to reverse the team's losing ways.

"Some teams have a certain tradition that they have in that city or that team," said Lewis, who recruited Brown to lead the team in its post-game renditions of the cheer. "I thought it was important, something for the guys to have fun with.

"When you win you ought to enjoy it. It's something to congratulate them for winning and recognition of winning."

And the players appreciate the thought.

"I picked it up as soon as I got here," Bengals running back Rudi Johnson said. "You can go around here and ask anybody to chant it, and they'll give it to you word for word, line for line.

"It's a good thing, a good thing to have."

According to a 1983 Sports Illustrated article, the "Who dey" cheer originated in the Riverfront Stadium red seats during the 1981 season.

It gained popularity as the Bengals swept the month of November and surged right into Super Bowl XVI, where they lost to the 49ers.

"I remember it was rowdy as hell, and loud all the time," said longtime Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham, who was an offensive lineman on that team. "It was like a college atmosphere. Fans had their faces painted, (and a few years later) the 'Welcome to the Jungle' signs.

"Once we started rolling in November, around that time of the year, (the 'Who dey' cheer) really started to catch on big time."

Recordings of the cheer were made, and distributed locally. The Hudepohl Brewing Company produced special edition cans of Hu-Dey - some can still be found on the Internet auction site eBay - the following season.

But here is where the story blurs.

Did Bengals fans invent the cheer? Or, as many believe, did they simply modify the "Who dat" cheer used by the New Orleans Saints?

"Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say we gonna beat dem Saints? Nobody."

Dr. Joseph Foster, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati, holds a degree from Louisiana State University and has familial ties to the New Orleans area.

"I can confirm that this kind of chant in professional football started in New Orleans," Foster said, "or at least was there before Mike Brown's football team fans took it up."

Saints personnel are unsure when the team's "Who dat" cheer started, but insist it predates "Who dey."

Dr. Ray Brassieur, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, thinks the Saints cheer is attributable to a mid-20th century American film.

A character in the movie hears a noise and shouts, "Who dat?"

When the echo of his voice responds, "Who dat?" the character answers with, "Who dat say 'Who dat' when I say 'Who dat?' "

"I remember hearing adults saying this over and over and cackling like it was the funniest thing ever," Brassieur said.

The terms "Who dey" and "Who dat" are forms of traditional southern Appalachian dialect, according to Dr. Kenneth Tankersley.

"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.

The phrases are traceable as far back as the 18th century, when colonists from northern Britain and Northern Ireland settled in southern Appalachia.

"The southern Appalachian dialect of English ... has been preserved in the mountains of Kentucky for over two hundred years," Tankersley said, "and in the cheers of thousands of Bengals fans cheering, 'Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?' "

They say history repeats itself.

Here in Cincinnati, a town gaga again over its Bengals, each Sunday offers fans the opportunity to do just that.

So to all the English teachers and grammar buffs cringing out there, consider this a warning.

Cover your ears or clear your throats. It could start getting loud around here.