Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

"Paddy" in modern language !

Options
  • 23-02-2008 5:48pm
    #1
    Minfadlek
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭


    Would you say anything if someone on another forum kept referring to Mchl O'Leary as "the Paddy" ? (English language forum - mostly Brits) :confused:
    My heart is saying "say something", but what (if anything) would you say ?
    Thanks :)


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    kreuzberger
    Registered Users Posts: 324 ✭✭kreuzberger


    dumbass that i am I cant find it .could you point me towards the part of the forum where this is being said , perhaps link , and I could have a look at the context ? It might be the case the term is being used in an ironic sense
    however if its being used in a derogatory manner then my advice would simply be to point out that such terminology is inappropriate and offensive and to ask the person using it to grow up and desist . In a polite manner of course .


  • Options
    #3
    AckwelFoley
    Registered Users Posts: 12,556 ✭✭✭✭AckwelFoley


    post a link


    Snyper will take care of it from there.


  • Options
    #4
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    Minfadlek wrote: »
    Would you say anything if someone on another forum kept referring to Mchl O'Leary as "the Paddy" ? (English language forum - mostly Brits) :confused:
    My heart is saying "say something", but what (if anything) would you say ?
    Thanks :)

    Sounds to me like it is being used in a derogatory fashion - pretty much like your use of the word 'Brits'?


  • Options
    #5
    Minfadlek
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭Minfadlek


    Using "Brits" as an abreviation of "British" (ppl from Great Britain, kinda like Irish being ppl from Ireland)..... :confused:


  • Options
    #6
    AckwelFoley
    Registered Users Posts: 12,556 ✭✭✭✭AckwelFoley


    Ive seen the thread..

    It seems to be the one guy using the term the whole time


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Minfadlek
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭Minfadlek


    ... yea, I've just added my tuppence worth !


  • Options
    #8
    Red Hand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,986 ✭✭✭Red Hand


    Minfadlek wrote: »
    Using "Brits" as an abreviation of "British" (ppl from Great Britain, kinda like Irish being ppl from Ireland)..... :confused:

    And "Japs" as an appreviation of Japanese?


  • Options
    #9
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »
    And "Japs" as an appreviation of Japanese?

    Or "Argies" for Argentinians. Plenty of derogatory terms would appear to have fairly innocuous roots. For example, '******' is probably the most offensive word in the English language - yet it is simply a corruption of the French word for 'black'. 'Paddy' is in itself a recognition of our nation's patron saint and, like 'Brit' 'queer' and '******' it can be used as a self-description in a way that is completely inoffensive.

    I certainly don't see Wikipedia as an infallible authority, but I think they are correct in stating that the term 'Brit', when used by national Irish, has highly pejorative connotations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_words_for_British

    Don't get me wrong, I agree that the term 'paddy' is offensive when used by the English - but for someone to complain about it while referring to the English as 'Brits' is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.


  • Options
    #10
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    Where is the English Language forum?


  • Options
    #11
    purple'n'gold
    Registered Users Posts: 838 ✭✭✭purple'n'gold


    In the British armed services, Every Irishman is Paddy, every Scotsman is Jock and every Welshman is Taffy. Also lads from the north east of England are called Geordie. Nothing offensive meant by the above terms and none ever taken, it’s just traditional. And I know, first hand.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    karen3212
    Closed Accounts Posts: 668 ✭✭✭karen3212


    purplengold wrote: »
    In the British armed services, Every Irishman is Paddy, every Scotsman is Jock and every Welshman is Taffy. Also lads from the north east of England are called Geordie. Nothing offensive meant by the above terms and none ever taken, it’s just traditional. And I know, first hand.

    Yeah but I think it's differnet if it's used between people who are friends though.

    Also I wouldn't equate the offensiveness of a black man calling a white person a cracker, with the offensiveness of a white man using the 'n' word.
    Op it all depends on the context and relationships between the people saying it - for me, anyway.


  • Options
    #13
    Minfadlek
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭Minfadlek


    On the forums I use, particularly the one in question, the word "Brits" is used frequently, (I believe) as an abbreviation of British,... This is how I meant it !
    But I will certainly give it more thought in the future :)

    Thanks for the replies :D


  • Options
    #14
    Dyr
    Registered Users Posts: 23,246 ✭✭✭✭Dyr


    It depends on the context, though you dont to let them saxons getting too blasé about using paddy


  • Options
    #15
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    purplengold wrote: »
    In the British armed services, Every Irishman is Paddy, every Scotsman is Jock and every Welshman is Taffy. Also lads from the north east of England are called Geordie. Nothing offensive meant by the above terms and none ever taken, it’s just traditional. And I know, first hand.

    With all due respect, imagine the consequences if we all decided to take the practices of the British armed services as a guide for what is right or wrong. The population of Derry would certainly decrease quite sharply.


  • Options
    #16
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    I used to call a friend of mine "Paddy", he has no Irish in him whatsoever 100% English, just his name was Patrick.

    After a few years people who didn't know him used to ask him if he was Irish ;)


  • Options
    #17
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    PDN wrote: »
    With all due respect, imagine the consequences if we all decided to take the practices of the British armed services as a guide for what is right or wrong.
    I would imagine it depends on the regiment, after all the Dragoon guards would be full of "jocks".

    Probably just English regiments.


  • Options
    #18
    McArmalite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,476 ✭✭✭McArmalite


    PDN wrote: »
    With all due respect, imagine the consequences if we all decided to take the practices of the British armed services as a guide for what is right or wrong. The population of Derry would certainly decrease quite sharply.

    With all due respect, the population of the british royal family and parachute regiment also would certainly decrease quite sharply in retaliation.


  • Options
    #19
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    PDN wrote: »
    With all due respect, imagine the consequences if we all decided to take the practices of the British armed services as a guide for what is right or wrong. The population of Derry would certainly decrease quite sharply.
    McArmalite wrote: »
    With all due respect, the population of the british royal family and parachute regiment also would certainly decrease quite sharply in retaliation.


    Over the name Paddy? ;)

    Some people just go soooo over the top!! :rolleyes:


  • Options
    #20
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Minfadlek wrote: »
    Using "Brits" as an abreviation of "British" (ppl from Great Britain, kinda like Irish being ppl from Ireland)..... :confused:
    Nothing wrong with the word "Brits" it's just that there are some who can't use the word without preceding or following it with a derogatory comment!


  • Options
    #21
    dsmythy
    Registered Users Posts: 10,508 ✭✭✭✭dsmythy


    PDN wrote: »
    Sounds to me like it is being used in a derogatory fashion - pretty much like your use of the word 'Brits'?

    They have their own awards ceremony nicknamed the Brits. I don't see anything wrong with the term.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #22
    dsmythy
    Registered Users Posts: 10,508 ✭✭✭✭dsmythy


    Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »
    And "Japs" as an appreviation of Japanese?

    There's a car dealership near the airport which has signs up advertising "Jap cars". It is to save banner space but i always wonder how they get away with it.


  • Options
    #23
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    dsmythy wrote: »
    There's a car dealership near the airport which has signs up advertising "Jap cars". It is to save banner space but i always wonder how they get away with it.
    He's referring to the cars, not the people.
    It'd be bad for business if he was being derogatory to the people who made 'em ;)


  • Options
    #24
    Red Hand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,986 ✭✭✭Red Hand


    If it was in Ireland, it would be "Paddy Wagons".:)


  • Options
    #25
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »
    If it was in Ireland, it would be "Paddy Wagons".:)
    from Wiki ;)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddywagon
    Paddywagon and Black Maria are slang terms for either a police car, or a police vehicle used to transport large groups of people who have been arrested.

    The word paddywagon is of American origin. The precise origin of the term is uncertain and disputed, though its use dates back to at least the beginning of the 1900s.[1] There are at least three theories as how the phrase originated.[2]

    The most prevalent theory is based on the term "Paddy" (a common Irish shortening of Patrick), which was used (sometimes as derogatory slang) to refer to Irish people.[3] Irishmen made up a large percentage of the officers of early police forces in many American cities. Thus, this theory suggests that the concentration of Irish in the police forces led to the term "paddywagon" being used to describe the vehicles driven by police.


    An alternative theory is similarly based on the term "Paddy" but states that the term arose due to the number of immigrant Irish being arrested for having consumed too much alcohol and taken away in the vehicles.[4]


    The final theory holds that the name originates from the padding used on the inside of police horse-drawn carriages to prevent injury; [5] this last is regarded by lexicographers as an example of folk etymology[citation needed].


Advertisement