Quick poll.... is the word 'Paddy' offensive to the Irish?

Manic Moran · 14-07-2009 07:23PM

Probably would depend on if the person using it was trying to be offensive or not.

I'm a little strange, I know, and definitely in a minority, but I don't believe that words have intent. They tend to be somewhat inanimate, actually, and lack the ability to be offensive given their lack of cognitive ability. What's more important is the user's intent.

NTM

AckwelFoley · 14-07-2009 07:23PM

I dont get offended with words. But of course if an englishman referred to me as a paddy in a futile attempt to annoy me, my retort would be swift and lvoid of any regard for their feelings.

sparkzter · 14-07-2009 07:33PM

I was raised in England and my name is Patrick, This led to being called paddy since being about 7 years old. My parents are Irish and our neighbours were Irish decent too. There was 7 brothers in that family and patrick was a name of one of them. He was also nick-named paddy. I was fine with my nick-name and prefered it to Patrick, Paddy round the corner liked his name, as did his parents. However, my dad despised it passionately, this meant that when mates called to the house and asked for Paddy they were told 'no paddy lives here' and the door slammed shut. mates who rang me would say to me the next time they saw me ' I rang your house and some fella said you don't live there. bit embarrassing to say that my dad hates my nick-name but that was the truth. He would say if anybody calls you Paddy, tell them your Patrick. I didn't as i prefered Paddy just for the fact it was a nick-name. Paddy round the corner had no such stigma, to the point his mum and dad called him paddy and indeed probably started calling it him first. My dad and his dad were both from Limerick yet had differant feelings towards paddy. this was very confusing but I wouldn't querie my dad for the fear of a hurly wrapped around the head so it went on for years. in fact since we moved back to Ireland my name has been shortened to Pat, but I am always Paddy to mates in England.
Sorry for long winded post.

Dudess · 14-07-2009 07:48PM

Wertz wrote: »

There's something in our national psyche that does that, maybe it's the whole 800 years and such...we (generalising here) seem to consider ourselves the underdogs or something...I think it's only the bit of confidence injected during the boom years that has started to put that attitude to bed somewhat...

There's that, but on the other hand, there's also the "let's be proud of anything at all attached to Ireland - even really trivial stuff - and if you're not, you're 'self-loathing'" mindset. Or even just being of the view it's unfair to criticise all English people - some (obviously not many) consider that another example of same, and of being "subservient".

Pighead · 14-07-2009 07:52PM

On it's own it's usually alright but if it's proceeded by a curse word ie You fcuking Paddy or "You cnuting Paddy" then it's time to get all offended and angry. You have to trust your own judgement.

One time Pighead was checking out girls bottoms in St Stephens Green and there was a bit of salivating and drooling going on. One of the girls seen the drooling and salivating and shouted out "Pig!" Now maybe she was calling Pighead a pig for staring at her bottom and drooling but in this posters mind she was just shortening Pighead's name and using it as a term of affection. Always trust your self to make the right judgement calls in situations liek this. No need to look for offence when there isn't any to be found.

tangerinepuppet · 14-07-2009 08:02PM

Aaah poor wee innocent Pighead.

Re Paddy, it depends on tone and context.

Coming from some Anglo-superior gobsh!te, it is offensive and should invite retaliation, although that would probably be met with a facial expression resembling

, because they are most likely ignorant and know not what they do.

Diabhal Beag · 14-07-2009 08:06PM

How is a word offensive? A sentence can be but not a word

Acacia · 14-07-2009 08:08PM

No, except if it's preceded by ''dirty'' or ''thick''. Or if I were abroad and somebody just labelled me as ''the paddy''.

Latchy · 14-07-2009 08:11PM

I say old chap can one still get a bottle of 'paddy ' whiskey in the shops over there eh ?

ejmaztec · 14-07-2009 08:13PM

PinkTulips wrote: »

This was an English woman, who classes herself Irish due to having Irish family :rolleyes: who said 'What is it with the feckin' irish?' and then refered to her relatives as the 'paddy aunties'

I'd never be offended by anyone with a mental illness.

stovelid · 14-07-2009 08:16PM

I'm torn between not really liking it being applied by English people to Irish people in a condescending tone and being so irritated by Irish people who analyse every British micro-statement for traces of offence that I don't give a shit.

Depends on my mood, I guess.

therewillbe · 14-07-2009 08:18PM

Better than the LAZY MICK term!

Pighead · 14-07-2009 08:18PM

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

How is a word offensive? A sentence can be but not a word

Spanner.

ejmaztec · 14-07-2009 08:21PM

To add to the confusion, there are many English people called Paddy.

dlofnep · 14-07-2009 08:22PM

It's a testament to either how thick our skin is, or how accustomed we are to taking it up the arse. If someone foreign calls me a Paddy and it's just in a mild manner for the craic, I won't take offense to it. But if someone says it with intent to insult me, I'll stick his head through a wall.

We should haven't to put up with that kind of ****e, and we should always stand up for ourselves and not allow people to get away with insulting us.

Fozzie Bear · 14-07-2009 08:27PM

Paddy does not bother me to be honest unless as others have said its meant to offend and has a swear preceeding it. We got a taxi in Leeds a few years ago going to the airport. Some paki type driver greeted us with "howya Paddy where ya headed" to which he got back "the airport Mohammed and try not to blow us up on the way". Was all in good spirits and we actually had a great laugh with him.

Something that did get on my t!ts though was an English dude who was over here giving a presentation at work years ago. His company was trying to win a contract to install some equipment which was worth several hundread thousand quid. The twat kept referring to England as "the mainland". We were all looking at each other in WTF shock as he kept using the term. "When I get back to the mainland I'll e-mail the specs to you" or "Chris in the mainland office can answer that". Eventually one of our guys asked him where he thought he was? The Shetland islands or Outer Hebrides and where was this "the mainland" located? Needless to say they did not get the contract because of the dippy twat.

pawrick · 14-07-2009 08:35PM

I voted yes always to this only because the option I wanted is not there.

I have no problem with it but it depends on how it is used - which in a lot of cases is derogatory, foreign friends taking the piss is fine with me and I'll say something back. People I hardly know saying it to me will get a different reaction. Can't see why an Irish person would use the term unless the person was called Paddy.

Dudess · 14-07-2009 08:39PM

stovelid wrote: »

I'm torn between not really liking it being applied by English people to Irish people in a condescending tone and being so irritated by Irish people who analyse every British micro-statement for traces of offence

Two very different things in my opinion. I'd share both views with you.

pawrick · 14-07-2009 08:45PM

just spotted the mainland comment above my last post - that's the one which irrates me the most!!!

Anytime an English person (it's always an English person in my experience no offence intended) says it to me I start referring to France etc. in reply.

a girl I knew who was 1st generation English (family were Indian) used to do that the whole time and asked me once why I had a different looking passport! She didn't realise ROI was not in the UK which fair enough I'd let slip but for the fact she was a solicitor who I would have expected to have been aware of this plus the fact her family were from another country you might expect her to be more clued in on the outside world.

donkey balls · 14-07-2009 08:59PM

while living in oz a couple of years ago one of the lads came back after lunch and informed me that they were beating the packies in the criket.

i said jaysus you cant be calling them that he replied why not after all im a aussie your a paddy the new zealanders are kiwi the english poms the americans septic tanks.

i suspose its the manner in which its said it doesent bother me if friends from other countrys are having a laugh.

i remember been in a irish pub in auckland during an ireland/england rugby match where some english lad was taking the piss out of the irsh in general.

i told him to f**k off and go else where and find a traditional english pub and said you might find it hard as your country is not very popular around the world.

PinkTulips · 14-07-2009 08:59PM

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Was this on Boards? I'd actually like to read it now.

no, not on boards, on a british site and the origional thread got deleted as it got fairly arsey.... sadly mostly due to an irish poster getting a bit too riled up (not me i hasten to add!)

personally i found her tone more so than the word annoyed me but don't seem to have been able to get that point across, there is a spin off thread but without the origional post that sparked it's a bit pointless really as almost every post referances things said in the first thread :rolleyes:

for me the tone of the post and the use of the word 'paddy' to say 'irish' seemed to go hand in hand with the whole 'diddly ireland' mentality that britain and america so often have.... that ireland is this amusingly quaint but slightly backward country.

Latchy · 15-07-2009 12:26PM

donkey balls wrote: »

i remember been in a irish pub in auckland during an ireland/england rugby match where some english lad was taking the piss out of the irsh in general.

One thing the Irish share with the brits and other races is the ability to rip into and take the piss out of every race in the world ..including the brits .

i told him to f**k off and go else where and find a traditional english pub and said you might find it hard as your country is not very popular around the world.

The paragraph below is taken from a tourists survey Here

Despite cliches about beer-guzzling hordes descending on Mediterranean resorts each summer, Britons came a surprise second for their overall behaviour, politeness, quietness and even elegance -- second for dress sense only to the Italians.

donkey balls · 15-07-2009 12:50PM

Despite cliches about beer-guzzling hordes descending on Mediterranean resorts each summer, Britons came a surprise second for their overall behaviour, politeness, quietness and even elegance -- second for dress sense only to the Italians.

piont taken i didnt mean to tar them all with the same brush i should have mentioned when i told that guy to f**k off another lad from the england said to me fare play to yeah as the guy was being a knob

Fratton Fred · 15-07-2009 01:04PM

I must be too PC. I get embarassed calling someone Paddy even when their name is Paddy. Mainly due to the fact it is used all too often as a put down by Brits.

WIZE · 15-07-2009 01:10PM

PinkTulips wrote: »

no, not on boards, on a british site and the origional thread got deleted as it got fairly arsey.... sadly mostly due to an irish poster getting a bit too riled up (not me i hasten to add!)

personally i found her tone more so than the word annoyed me but don't seem to have been able to get that point across, there is a spin off thread but without the origional post that sparked it's a bit pointless really as almost every post referances things said in the first thread :rolleyes:

for me the tone of the post and the use of the word 'paddy' to say 'irish' seemed to go hand in hand with the whole 'diddly ireland' mentality that britain and america so often have.... that ireland is this amusingly quaint but slightly backward country.

Blame Discover Ireland for that http://www.discoverireland.com/gb/webisode/jsp/

Joey the lips · 15-07-2009 01:12PM

Just because my name is paddy and i am irish does not mean i am offensive to anyone.

My mother did not find it offensive when she gave me the name.

What i do think is very funny is the fact that my uncle an irish man worked on the sites in england for years. He is a jonathan.Every person irish on the sites was called Paddy. Like every arab was called mohammed. His son peter who also worked on the sites and is english born but with an irish passport than had a grandson for jonathan. What did peter name his son...... Paddy! Not Pat / Patrick but Paddy

Know that was funny!

kittenkiller · 15-07-2009 01:15PM

Only if it's said with some sort of malice. But day to day, not at all.

ejmaztec · 15-07-2009 01:25PM

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

Paddy does not bother me to be honest unless as others have said its meant to offend and has a swear preceeding it. We got a taxi in Leeds a few years ago going to the airport. Some paki type driver greeted us with "howya Paddy where ya headed" to which he got back "the airport Mohammed and try not to blow us up on the way". Was all in good spirits and we actually had a great laugh with him.

Something that did get on my t!ts though was an English dude who was over here giving a presentation at work years ago. His company was trying to win a contract to install some equipment which was worth several hundread thousand quid. The twat kept referring to England as "the mainland". We were all looking at each other in WTF shock as he kept using the term. "When I get back to the mainland I'll e-mail the specs to you" or "Chris in the mainland office can answer that". Eventually one of our guys asked him where he thought he was? The Shetland islands or Outer Hebrides and where was this "the mainland" located? Needless to say they did not get the contract because of the dippy twat.

That's ironic.

deadhead13 · 15-07-2009 01:37PM

The only time I ever really heard "paddy" used in london was by the Irish taking the piss out of 2nd generation Irish - "plastic paddies"

rubadub · 15-07-2009 01:45PM

People keep saying "if a brit calls me it..."
So what if it is an Irish person calling you Paddy? esp. those who would take offence to foreign people using Paddy in a light-hearted way.

Seems some might be a bit hypocritical, they are offended by apparent racist remark but you are racist themselves since only select people saying it upsets them.

Just like the N word in the US, many would get upset if another black lad called them it, some would only get upset if a non-black guy said it.

Quick poll.... is the word 'Paddy' offensive to the Irish?

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