Dozen (K-Pop Slang)

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About

Dozen is a derogatory slang term in the K-pop community to describe an idol who anti-fans feel does not contribute to their group. The term is a homophone for "doesn't," as in "dozen rap, dozen sing, dozen do anything." Since emerging in 2020, the term has often caused controversy and debate within the K-pop fandom, as various content creators have applied the label to different idols, sparking heated disagreement.

Origin

On September 13th, 2020, Twitter / X user @BAEKHUI joked that the idol Lucas of WayV and SuperM should've been named "12" because he "dozen rap, dozen sing, dozen do anything." The tweet was eventually deleted, but has been widely cited as the origin of the term "dozen."^[1]

seonghwa @BAEKHUI lucas shoulda been named 12 cause he dozen rap.. dozen sing.. dozen do anything 2:03 PM - 9/13/20 - Twitter for iPhone

Spread

Over the following years, the term began to spread in the K-pop fandom as anti-fans of other groups and idols began applying it to idols they disliked. It appears to have begun growing more popular in the fall of 2021. On October 28th, 2021, user ellenote posted a joking list of "dozens" to allkpop forums,^[2] listing Lucas, Yeri of Red Velvet, I.N. of Stray Kids and Sehun of EXO as "dozens," along with other idols. On November 21st, Urban Dictionary^[3] user neosvl added a definition for "Dozen" to the site (shown below).

dozen The mf in nct who did not certainly raise the roof Nctzen: omg who is that dancing off beat Nctzen 2: oh that's dozen and he's obviously not raising the roof by neosvl November 21, 2021 33 7 FLAG f

On YouTube, the term has been the subject of multiple videos during the 2020s, as content creators have attempted to spark discourse and controversy by identifying and ranking "dozens." For example, on September 13th, 2023, YouTuber ajanugu made a tier list of some K-pop "dozens," gaining over 36,000 views in seven months (shown below, left). On August 7th, user dozenology made a similar video, gaining over 8,700 views in eight months (shown below, right).

On April 1st, 2024, Lucas returned to K-pop with the song "Renegade" after he was placed on hiatus for several years due to bad behavior with female fans. That day, Twitter user @dpmohyuck^[4] joked that Lucas returned to reclaim his title as the true K-pop "dozen," gaining over 11,000 retweets and 68,000 likes in one day (shown below).

he saw people calling other kpop idols dozen and went in the studio mad as hell to prove that this title belongs to him Only https://t.co/PGVpex7rhB

— lu (@dpmohyuck) April 1, 2024