<P> Staged minstrel skits featured frightened African American characters saying `` who dat '' when they encountered a ghost , or someone imitating a ghost . Then , the `` who dat '' -- `` who dat say who dat '' skit would play itself out . This skit was done frequently in short reels from the 1930s to 1950s and in some early TV shows too . Even the Marx Brothers had a `` who dat '' routine , which they included in their film A Day at the Races . `` Who Dat Man ? Why It 's Gabriel ! '' Often , a ghost was called a `` who dat . '' Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer 's animated character Bosko once had such an encounter in a 1938 toon called `` Lil Ol Bosko in Bagdad . '' In 1941 Butterfly McQueen infamously delivered what African American film historian Donald Bogle described as what `` might be the most demeaning line ever uttered by a black in the movies '' when she said , `` Who dat say who dat when I say who dat ? '' in the movie Affectionately Yours . </P>
<P> Staged minstrel skits featured frightened African American characters saying `` who dat '' when they encountered a ghost , or someone imitating a ghost . Then , the `` who dat '' -- `` who dat say who dat '' skit would play itself out . This skit was done frequently in short reels from the 1930s to 1950s and in some early TV shows too . Even the Marx Brothers had a `` who dat '' routine , which they included in their film A Day at the Races . `` Who Dat Man ? Why It 's Gabriel ! '' Often , a ghost was called a `` who dat . '' Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer 's animated character Bosko once had such an encounter in a 1938 toon called `` Lil Ol Bosko in Bagdad . '' In 1941 Butterfly McQueen infamously delivered what African American film historian Donald Bogle described as what `` might be the most demeaning line ever uttered by a black in the movies '' when she said , `` Who dat say who dat when I say who dat ? '' in the movie Affectionately Yours . </P>
who dat say who dat when i say who dat origin
who dat say who dat when i say who dat origin
Affectionately Yours
Affectionately Yours