Paddywhackery

fryup

Paddywhackery > taken the mickey out of the irish..do you find it offensive or just a bit of craic? Do you laugh along with it or do you take umbrage?

The likes of...Mr O'Reilly in Fawly Towers, Bernie the Irish nurse in the Catherine Tate Show, Detective O'Thick in the Dick Emery Show etc

Here's an example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJSrVNKnr0

RachaelVO

I think it's mostly hilarious meself, even though the money really was only resting in me account...

It's the stage Oirish sh1te thats more annoying!

du Maurier

Dey took our jerbs!...oh sorry, wrong thread.

OPENROAD

Not in the least offended

hondasam

Depends on who is laughing at us, find it annoying sometimes especially if it's the english doing it.

gigino

it reminds me of that mad Irish priest who runs out, dressed as a leprechaun, + disrupts grand prix, marathons etc.

he disrupted marathon in last olympics did'nt he

Immaculate Pasta

Don't dish it out if you can't take it yourself

OPENROAD

Immaculate Pasta wrote: »

Don't dish it out if you can't take it yourself

We love dishing it out though

Where To

Paddywhackery is better than begrudgery imo.

starbelgrade

In 1962, the British Government refused to renew Spike's passport because they did not consider him a British citizen.

They told him he could apply for citizenship, but this required swearing an oath to the Queen, which Spike refused to do.

By this stage, Prince Charles was one of Spike's biggest and probably most famous fan.

"Prince Charles even sent him a letter saying, ‘Come on, you know, I had to swear allegiance to the Queen and it's not that painful for God's sake' and Spike wrote back and said, ‘Well, it's okay for you, she's your mum'."

So Spike set out in search of a country that would have him as citizen without him having to grovel…

Spike really felt he deserved British citizenship unconditionally, after serving for six years in the British Army.

When it became apparent they wouldn't make it that easy, he went to the Irish Embassy and said, "Can I be Irish?"

Spike's brother Desmond Milligan recalls that the Irish Ambassador, Aamon Kelly, spoke to Spike personally and said, "Oh, you're that bloke on the telly. Of course you can become an Irish citizen. We're terribly short of people".

http://www.spikemilliganlegacy.com/citizen4.htm

WesternZulu

Don't like thet video tbh...makes us out to be nation of thick so and so's, the type that are only good for tarmacking roads.
Plays up to the stupid Paddy stereotype!

Reverse the roles there and put a few Africans and there would be uproar

All in all though I have no problem with the usual Paddywhackery though, the type you see in the Simpsons, Family Guy, etc

hondasam

starbelgrade wrote: »

http://www.spikemilliganlegacy.com/citizen4.htm

Read somewhere he was born in India but grew up in the UK. his father was Irish and his mother English.

cocoshovel

Don't really care. I abuse this country and its people a lot so I can't really feel offended. I sort of feel embarrassed being Irish.

cml387

Bernie the Irish nurse sketches were written by Graham Lenihan

yuppies

I'm not in the least offended, but then why would I be? I'm a white male; that is an enormous luxury to be born with!

mackg

Immaculate Pasta wrote: »

Don't dish it out if you can't take it yourself

Exactly, If I said this was offensive and wrong then I would be a hypocrite considering some of the things I find funny.

jaffacakesyum

Funnily enough, this is the biggest thing I'm proud of about being Irish - the fact that the majority of us aren't offended in the slightest about paddywhackery and can take a good joke!!

Oranage2

It's funny because it's true

deathrider

HArmless craic, if you ask me. I laugh when shows/movies are taking the p1ss out of black folk, Australian folk, English folk, and anyone else. If someone has a laugh at Irish folk too, then where's the harm? If it's funny, it's funny. I don't mind being the butt of an occasional joke.

No idea why the lads in that video look like Harry Enfield's Scousers though.

whubee

Your only choice is to not be offended, cause we all know what happens when you take offence.
Taking offence would only put the P word on the same level as the N word, and give power to the word.

(ibf noodles, naggers, nomnoms etc)

starbelgrade

Spike Milligan's stuff is a tad dated but it's still quite funny.

It's no more sterotype / paddywhackery humour though than the likes of Father Ted.

And Father Ted is fucking hilarious.

hondasam

starbelgrade wrote: »

Spike Milligan's stuff is a tad dated but it's still quite funny.

It's no more sterotype / paddywhackery humour though than the likes of Father Ted.

And Father Ted is fucking hilarious.

It ok when it's Irish people playing the part, when you have English comedians laughing at us it's different for me anyway.

Father Ted is a legend.

holystungun9

yuppies wrote: »

I'm not in the least offended, but then why would I be? I'm a white male; that is an enormous luxury to be born with!

watcha be talkin' bout foo'

OPENROAD

hondasam wrote: »

It ok when it's Irish people playing the part, when you have English comedians laughing at us it's different for me anyway.

Father Ted is a legend.

Definitely not for me

fryup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnLRpZgcUbY

hondasam

OPENROAD wrote: »

Definitely not for me

you don't mind when they make fun of us. I lived there and constantly put up with the jokes about our accent etc.
I suppose I might be a bit sensitive about it.

OPENROAD

hondasam wrote: »

you don't mind when they make fun of us. I lived there and constantly put up with the jokes about our accent etc.
I suppose I might be a bit sensitive about it.

I have lived there and am a regular visitor and have never had anyone make any jokes about my accent.. so hasn't happened to me..... Even if they did...certainly wouldn't bother me..maybe it is a confidence thing

Oranage2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7rsrKQtvYQ

Pretty funny

Harry Angstrom

hondasam wrote: »

you don't mind when they make fun of us. I lived there and constantly put up with the jokes about our accent etc.
I suppose I might be a bit sensitive about it.

Most English people I know love the Irish accent, the women seem to especially love the accent

That Spike Milligan stuff is the funniest thing I've seen in ages.

Gee Bag

800 Years!!

hondasam

OPENROAD wrote: »

I have lived there and am a regular visitor and have never had anyone make any jokes about my accent.. so hasn't happened to me..... Even if they did...certainly wouldn't bother me..maybe it is a confidence thing

No it's not a confidence thing.

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Most English people I know love the Irish accent, the women seem to especially love the accent

That Spike Milligan stuff is the funniest thing I've seen in ages.

I had english friends here for the weekend, first time in Ireland, they loved it but could not understand a word anyone said.

Oranage2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP2HR3PZX-M

Not sure about this though never really liked it

Dodd

You really can't compare an old Spike Milligan video to what goes on today.
Look at some episodes of rising damp and Benny Hill ect.
They would not be made these days.
It's all about pc now and it should involve others mocking the Irish as much as mocking any other people that is now frowned upon.

Ruu_Old

Thick Irish joke! :eek:

Wouldn't be allowed these days of course with the Joe Duffy brigade and so on. Then there was old Jim McDonald in Corrie.

fryup

Oranage2 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP2HR3PZX-M

Not sure about this though never really liked it

couldn't believe Ray Houghton agreed to do that (scottish bastard)

philstar

Dodd wrote: »

You really can't compare an old Spike Milligan video to what goes on today.
Look at some episodes of rising damp and Benny Hill ect.
They would not be made these days.

yes, paddywhackery stems from the 1970s when you had loads of irish navies working on the roads and building sites throughout England, these were usually rough under educated lads from the country who weren't too shy with their fists and had a fondness for drink begob!

DEFTLEFTHAND

philstar wrote: »

yes, paddywhackery stems from the 1970s when you had loads of irish navies working on the roads and building sites throughout England, these were usually rough under educated lads from the country who weren't too shy with their fists and had a fondness for drink begob!

Dates back further than that. Have a look at Punch magazine's depiction of the Irish immigrant.

mackg

hondasam wrote: »

you don't mind when they make fun of us. I lived there and constantly put up with the jokes about our accent etc.
I suppose I might be a bit sensitive about it.

Maybe you just have a particularly hilarious accent? :pac:

gigino

mackg wrote: »

Maybe you just have a particularly hilarious accent? :pac:

jasus lads, meybe he was like de previous teeshock who got de auld dig out from de lads like paddy de plasterer, and who had not even a bank account.

hondasam

mackg wrote: »

Maybe you just have a particularly hilarious accent? :pac:

maybe but I don't think so, don't have a typical Irish accent any more.

The King of Moo

It depends on the intent really, though that can be hard to judge.

If it's an American programme or film then there's a fair chance the writer has never been here and knows nothing about the country, so it's hard to take it seriously as there's probably no malice behind it.

It varies when it's English people doing it.
Sometimes it's simply lingering racism, and the spite comes through.

But I've known a lot of English people who consider Irish jokes harmless and see it as banter like jokes about the Scottish and Welsh, as we're "one of them" (which is a whole other issue!).
Most of them would be shocked that Irish people would consider it racism.


But of course, what a lot of us don't like to admit is that these stereotypes don't come from nowhere. I usually can't take this country seriously myself!

gigino

hondasam wrote: »

maybe but I don't think so, don't have a typical Irish accent any more.

an untypical one so? People would laugh more at an untypical one.

mackg

hondasam wrote: »

maybe but I don't think so, don't have a typical Irish accent any more.

What do you sound like? I now sound like a bizarre Cork/Kerry hybrid.

gigino

The King of Moo wrote: »

Most of them would be shocked that Irish people would consider it racism.

Why not tell a Paddy the Englishman joke back at him + let them know Paddy the Irishman has a sense of humour + can take a joke.

tonycascarino

Couldn't care less. Alot of these comedians taking the pee out of us have an Irish background themselves anyway eg. Coogan, Milligan, Tate etc

The King of Moo

gigino wrote: »

Why not tell a Paddy the Englishman joke back at him + let them know Paddy the Irishman has a sense of humour + can take a joke.

I have done, and they take it well!

The reason a lot of people don't think of Irish jokes as racism is because of different perspectives.
Most of the English people I know know some bad stuff went on in the past but don't really know the details or the extent of it. They see the Irish and English as friendly rivals, like people from neighbouring counties.

But a lot of Irish people obviously have a different perspective, knowing more about the history, so see all Irish jokes as purely racist. Though of course you do still find a little bit of that, but I think most Irish jokes from English people nowadays would be intended as good-natured, and they'd be able to take it too.

Dudess

Meh, nowadays it's generally good-natured and I usually find it hilarious. Being able to laugh at ourselves is a sign of self confidence. And some of it has a grain of truth. It's preferable to some Irish people themselves having no self awareness and bitching about the Irish, saying they're embarrassed about it etc. Although what's just as bad is some other Irish people making out we're amazing and always on the lookout for offence, especially from "da Britz".

Malicious anti Irish sentiment is uncalled for (even worse is when it's perpetuated by the self loathers) but paddywackery generally isn't the same thing.

Dodd

A lot of people all around the world think that calling an Irish person Paddy will get some sort of reaction.
I have seen it happen but my name is Paddy so I just have to laugh and some say "I can't believe your Irish and name is Paddy".
Half their jokes were gone right away.:)

Dionysus

1. Published in The Irish Times, Mon 08 Aug 1998:

'Sir, - I am Irish and I too was horrified at the bomb outrage in Omagh. Alas, these outrages will continue until Ulster removes her borders and joins the Republic, where Catholics and Protestants live in perfect harmony. - Yours, etc.,
Spike Milligan,
Orme Court,
London'


2. Irish flag draping Spike Milligan's coffin


3. Spike Milligan's gravestone: 'Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite'

philstar

^^^^^^^^^^^

bit simplistic, seeing that he never actually lived here

Dionysus

philstar wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^

bit simplistic, seeing that he never actually lived here

It was his own self-definition, so there isn't much arguing to it. That's how he felt.