Dundee United
In Nigeria, calling someone “Dundee United,” or just “Dundee,” means calling them a fool. Strangely enough, the insult is named after a Scottish football club.
What it means
It’s a playful, old-school insult for someone who has done something silly: forgotten their keys in the car, paid twice, fallen for an obvious trick. It’s closer to “clown” or “idiot” than to anything harsh.
Why a Scottish football club?
Wikipedia lists several theories, but the most likely is Dundee United’s two-week tour of Nigeria in May and June 1972. The club lost games to local teams, including a 4–1 defeat to Stationery Stores and 2–0 to Enugu Rangers. The new manager, Jim McLean, blamed the heat, injuries and the pitches, and the results were widely mocked. Other suggestions link it to later Dundee United matches or to dundun, the Yoruba word for a drum. The insult was turning up in advertising by the late 1980s.
Examples
- “You paid for the ticket and forgot to go? Dundee United!”
- “Don’t mind him, he’s a Dundee.”
Related terms
- NPC: someone who seems to have no thoughts of their own.
- L: a loss.
- Yikes: that’s bad.
- Aproko: a busybody.
More Nigerian words are in our Nigerian slang guide.
Example sentence
He locked himself out again, the Dundee United.
Similar words
fool, clown
Notes
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