Am I right in being slightly annoyed?

[RottenTomatoes959]

For reference I am Irish living in Ireland.

I took DS to soft play over the weekend and got chatting to an English woman who was there with her DD.
Her DD starting having tantrum as 3 year olds tend to do and she starting laughing and joking with me over her throwing " a paddy".

Maybe she didn't understand the negative connotations of it but using this phrase to an Irish person in Ireland is a bit bloody stupid.

She ended up taking her DD and leaving so I didn't say anything but I wish I did.
Do I have right to be slightly annoyed by this?

Paddy is a common phrase in Ireland agreed, especially when it is cross the water relations it is all just craic, ye Paddy etc. I think throwing a Paddy is offensive as your referencing a lunatic, it is like that is abit Irish, as in backwards another phrase not used in Ireland.

I agree there are things you can get away with when you’re having banter with people you know well... and then there’s stuff you say to a stranger at softplay. It doesn’t mean I’d have an attack of the vapours if I heard it, it’s just a slightly annoying phrase.

@Juells Are you saying people in Belfast can't define themselves as Irish? 

Let's see....Belfast....Northern Ireland...UK.😂

I’m in NI. Close to Belfast. never heard the phrase said here.

Urban dictionary comes up with some interesting meanings for a paddywack 😂

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3Fterm%3Dpaddywhack%26amp%3Dtrue

According to Wikipedia (which I know can be edited but is a reasonable source of information):

Paddy Wagon:

The precise origin of the term is uncertain and disputed, though its use dates back to the 1800s.

There are three theories as to how the term originated.

1. In the United States, "Paddy" was a common Irish shortening of Padraig, (Patrick in English), which was most often used in the 19th century as an ethnic slur to refer to Irish people. 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 "paddy wagon" being used to describe the vehicles driven by police. The theory is weak because "paddy" was never a term used for police in general, and the majority of Irish people were not police.
2. The most common understanding in the United Kingdom also stems from the belief that the most common occupants of the vans were Irish, though they were not driving, they were the arrested passengers. This comes from several perspectives: a) prejudice by English people that the Irish immigrants were largely common criminals, b) from the legendary stories of their fighting spirit and the fact that when arrested they were less likely to "go quietly" than other nationalities, requiring the use of the van rather than a carriage, and c) that the Irish liked to drink so much that drunken brawling would often ensue and thus the police van would be called to take them away into custody.

I'm going with Door Number 2 on this one.
It is a slur and because people don't know where it originated or the background to it, they may think that it's ok to use. It's not.
I'll get down off my soap box now!

As previously mentioned, the term is in reference to Irish complaints about William of Orange massacring Catholics, and the oppression that was suffered then, and for hundreds of years since then. I've only ever heard English people using the term, never here in Ireland(we would say "throwing a mickey fit" or "having kittens", or more commonly "he went ballistic!!")

It's an offensive term, given the history behind it. It's okay to be offended by it, but I think people are being very unreasonable to insist that it's okay to continue to use it once the know what the connotations are.

Let's see....Belfast....Northern Ireland...UK.

So are Welsh people not Welsh?

Yes N Ireland is part of the UK, he and his kids still qualify for an Irish passport, though. So they won't be leaving Europe with the rest of us.

I love how for the use of paddy people that would defend all other kinds of offensive language are suddenly full of the "lots of word have multiple meanings". Continued oppression of the Irish I'm afraid in the same vein as the thick Irishman (usually a drunk). Of course it's fucking offensive.

Every day is a school day. My southern Irish family use the word paddy, best tell them they're offending themselves

Can you people not tell the difference between the name Paddy and the Statement throwing a Paddy.

HighwayDragon, this thread is discussing the specific phrase "throw(ing) a paddy", not the use of the word Paddy in general. The phrase in question is not in common usage, or at all, in the Republic of Ireland, by Irish people. Almost everybody on this thread, including the many Irish people who have posted, agree that the British people using it do so without any malice or conscious prejudice and in ignorance of its negative connotations for Irish people. The specific phrase is not used commonly, if at all, by Irish people living in the Republic of Ireland. I can't speak for people who identify as Irish living in Northern Ireland, but I believe at least one Northern Irish people has said it is likewise not in common usage there. Some Irish people may be offended when they encounter this phrase being used by a British person; others will not.

My southern Irish family use the word paddy, best tell them they're offending themselves hmm

There is nothing wrong with the word or name paddy. How are you not getting this?

We're all cross-posting in a frenzy of frustrated bafflement!

Every day is a school day. My southern Irish family use the word paddy, best tell them they're offending themselves

Again the use of the word Paddy is not offensive. Throwing a Paddy is offensive to an Irish person. It insinuates being stupid drunk and bad tempered.

I obviously mean having a paddy. I distinctly remember sitting in my great aunts front room while DD was stropping and she said "when you're done with your paddy we'll go outside"

soft I get that some people might find it offensive, I was simply saying that not all Irish people find it offensive and in fact use it themselves. Though I have only heard having a paddy and not throwing one (different connotations?) So my GA can say it because she's Irish living in Ireland, but I can't because I'm not

I think it’s been made pretty clear on here that some Irish people don’t find it offensive and others do.

But, like most words or phrases which are offensive or potentially offensive to a particular group or ethnicity, if it’s offensive to some, then it’s best not to use it, especially if you aren’t part of that group or ethnicity. I can think of many examples where I wouldn’t use a word as I knew some people found it offensive, even if I’d heard people from that group using the word themselves.

I mean, is it so difficult to understand why people find it a bit annoying as a phrase? I don’t get why an alternative phrase wouldn’t be just as easy to use and you definitely wouldn’t offend anyone then. It’s not even a good phrase. I don’t get why some people seem to be so attached to it that they don’t care that some people find it offensive.

When I was a child I was sometimes accused of "throwing a paddy". Must have been about 8 or 9 and for some odd reason, I distinctly remember asking my mum what it meant. She told me it meant acting crazy enough that a paddy wagon (my much older brother interjected that means a padded wagon) needed to be called to take me to the "looney bin" (her words not mine) to be locked away in a padded room.

This was 30+ years ago. I don't know if this was a local thing, a family thing or what. What I do know is my mum had not a single racist bone in her body. Language changes according to locality and over time. I don't use it myself. I am aware it could hold a meaning offensive to some. I have no way of knowing nor proving if mum was correct but I think it's best to not use it.

Common phrase in the north east

Hmm. And I bet none of you outraged people have ever laughed at that Irish pun about ‘Do you realise he’s British’ sounding a bit like ‘Kneecap him, he’s British’ eh? Nononononono.

'My southern Irish family' said no Irish person ever.

My southern Irish family' said no Irish person ever.

Not usually, but since someone on this thread have claimed that your aren't Irish if you are from the north, I can see why someone would post this.