Colleague said something was a bit Irish

[0scon]

Something that hadn't been planned properly, she said it was a bit Irish and laughed.
Is that not quite racist? Or am I being too woke?

How so? I am bothered by racism, misogyny, honophobia, any type of discrimination. When people do not get bothered, hatefulness prevails.

Are you suggesting people did degrees, masters and PhD's in subjects they didn't know existed?

Seems a bit of a faff if I'm honest.

Probably best to stick to subjects that were being taught and they could research those instead.

If you do not give a fuck about being offensive.

what are you talking about? Plenty of Irish people on here have said it's offensive (including me)

@ReadingSoManyThreads not sure the library is full of books regarding the use of having a paddy? People on here can’t agree where its come from exactly but inclined to think that irish slang is correct as I had mostly only heard people with irish decedents use it.

@Snugglemonkey so shat about irish people who say it ? Phrases often stick and original origins can be unknown or certainly people not aware.
there will be loads of phrases you may use and not know the origin, potentially could be offensive if you did

I'm Irish: I find it offensive.
I also have never heard it being used in Ireland and have never heard of paddy being used for tantrum.
I have heard both being used in England. I believe Paddy as a descriptor for an Irish man originated in US and/or Britain, paddy for fight in Britain and paddy wagon again US or Britain. At times when there was anti Irish immigrant sentiment, or let's face it, racism.
I've received anti-Irish abuse in England (occasionally - the vast, vast majority of people are fantastic) where someone probably thought it was funny (usually relating to Irish equals stupid). It's not. But I think that's where difficulty arises with "paddy" and the like: it's a bit of fun, it's not really racist or offensive, sure we all love the Irish, they don't find it offensive.
These terms all come from a time when Irish were dehumanised by this language: he's just a Paddy. Irish people were almost animalistic: can't control their urges: drinking, fighting, breeding.
Please don't use this language.

@YourOnMute yet the only people I knew who used it were those with irish family? Others have heard it used in ireland or by irish grandparents ? Someone else said it was an irish slang for tantrum,

maybe it depends on where you live, its not something in area i live that anyone really says nowadays but heard a lot when growing up and lived in an area which had a lot of irish descendents. And a lot of family friends parents cane to live in uk in the 50/60’s and heard them use this.
also the only person i have heard use the phrase its a bit irish recently it irish , this was only a few weeks ago.

None of these phrases are Irish slang I can guarantee you. They do not originate from Ireland.

@YourOnMute maybe not but def used by irish people despite you saying you have never heard then, others have also said they have heard the phrases in ireland. Google implies from america in some answers , who knows but not phrases you hear much. The person who said its a but irish the other week is Irish, lives in uk now and that was first time I had heard the phrase in years

Jews are a race. The Irish are not.

Judaism is a religion.

Judaism is not a race.

@Vegetus race is a social construction, not based on any biological factors, so strictly speaking who is a separate 'race' is subjectively decided. You could say Ppolish people are a race or that they're not but nothing is factually wrong with either of those statements.

You have to love all the non-irish people on this thread insisting that it's not offensive, despite the many Irish people on the thread saying they find it offensive. 😆

Can't believe we're still debating "having a paddy"! I'm Irish and had never heard it until I joined MN, I've lived both sides of the border and it is never used here. Because, y'know. I do find it offensive as do most Irish posters who've commented over the years. MN delete it if it's reported.

"A bit Irish" I have heard used in Ireland, but it's the sort of thing you'd only use among Irish people you know well. It also encompasses more than just being stupid or improperly planned as in the OP, IME it's usually used to describe something that's a bit grey rather than black and white, where the meaning of a word has been stretched.

Sure what would we know.

It is pejorative language that suggests a predisposition to anger and violence among the Irish and perpetuates negative stereotypes, stereotypes. It's rooted in the mass immigration of Irish people to the UK during the potato famine/genocide.

It's just one of those phrases that people need to stop using, I remember people saying things like "come on play the white man" and that meant be fair! Most who said that would not have considered it racist but it very much was.

People just need to be aware. If I heard someone use a phase like throwing a paddy, that's so Irish, paddy wagon, I just explain it's offensive. Most don't realise what words come from.

Well now you know better do better.

Yes, I’m for real.

The word paddy is not obviously of the same derivation as the name Paddy. Rice, for example, has nothing to do with Patrick.

Many, many words have different meanings and the different meanings may have different derivations, most of which I don’t know about. I’m not an etymologist, and evidently neither are you. You are, however, extremely rude.

Do you really spend time looking up the derivation of words?

Paddy as a pejorative comes from a time when a huge ammount of irish men came to Britain to work primarily in construction.
Many of them were called Paddy or Mick. The British couldn't be bothered to learn their names so they were all called Paddys/Micks. That then was applied to all of us.
The name Paddy is not offensive any more han the name Muhammad is. You wouldn't call all Muslims Muhammads.

And it's not difficult to see why using "having a Muhammad" as a term for a negative behaviour stereotypically associated with Muslims would be grossly offensive.

Are you from the UK or Ireland? Paddy as a pejorative term for Irish people would be well known here but I wouldn't be surprised if people who grew up elsewhere didn't know it.

If it's such an obvious connection, would you be so kind as to show an official/academic source that connects Paddy with paddy?