Why Are Yoruba Men Called Yoruba Demon?

Who is a Yoruba Demon?

He lies down flat on the floor in his fancy suit just to tell your aunt good evening because he is trained to do so for anyone who is more than one hour older than he is, but you don't know this. You imagine how he will greet your parents…

He immediately starts to call your parents mummy and daddy because that's what he and all of his friends call each other's parents; even the unwed and childless twenty-something year old youth pastor at his parents' church is called Daddy by church members, but you don't know this either. Instead, you think: he already sees them as his parents-in-law!

When he visits you at home, it is never without gifts for you, your parents, your siblings, your gateman and your pet dog (if you still live with them) because woe betide him if he visits his own mom, uncles, aunts and sisters empty-handed; he’s wired to buy gifts with every visit, but you think he is so thoughtful.

He introduces you to his sisters who treat you like their own sister, call you Iyawo and put you on their family Aso-ebi lists. Guilty here. But I really thought it was going somewhere.

He attends and plays prominent roles at your distant relations' weddings without complaining: he has undergone years of training in this area from accompanying his mom to weddings of kinsmen that he has never heard of and knows firsthand the futility of saying no to invitations to such events.

He’s been wearing his traditional Agbada to occasions and events long before he could walk or talk; it has always been a part of him, but you swoon over what you see as his fantastic sense of style. Everybody asks when you two will be tying the knot and he smiles politely while shrugging it off inwardly; no big deal here as all of his mom’s friends who have daughters have jokingly asked him the same question before, starting from when he was a child. He's extremely courteous, caring and very protective of you…

…but he acts surprised when you too start getting territorial and wonders why you are shocked that he is getting married to someone else tomorrow.

Hence, Yoruba demon:)

That caring and well-behaved persona isn't always a facade that is designed to deceive, though. Thanks to my mom, my three brothers can prostrate for the world and will rush to help the neighbourhood Agege bread seller carry her bread palette on their own heads simply because “mummy likes her.”

Many Yoruba men treat their mothers with a lot of respect. They tend to treat the women in their lives with the same deference; even those that young people call side chicks get the same special treatment. Many ladies (usually those that are not of Yoruba extraction) interpret their extreme dedication as love but it is just your average Yoruba man being himself. He's overly respectful like that with everybody.

 

This question was asked on Quora, and I felt Toyin Olamide Obire gave the most interesting answer to it. I shared it here for that sake. I hope you like it...