Irish posters - "having a paddy"

[BarbaraHoward]

Irish posters - can I canvas your opinions on the use of "having a paddy" to mean "having a tantrum"? I've been having a bit of back and forth (well, plenty of forth not much back in truth) with MNHQ over the past day or two and I want to check that I'm not going against the majority view here.

IMO, the phrase is awful, and plainly anti Irish. I know most people using it aren't doing so to slag Irish people off, but the phrase is still awful IMO.

I've been here a long time, and reported the phrase more than I can remember. Usually, it's just deleted right away. Raising it on a thread always derails it as people just go on the offensive.

I reported it yesterday and got the immediate email that it was being checked out, but the post stayed up for hours despite a follow up email, another post and a thread in Site Stuff. It was then edited rather than deleted, which I thought was the norm for offensive language. I reported another use this morning and it's still up.

What are your views? Is this a fight worth having with MNHQ or am I out of step with the majority of Irish posters on here?

Thanks :)

I'm aware of the sensitivities of what England did to Ireland in the past.

However, it is best to forgive.

It was the rich and elite at the very top of UK society that caused the problems in the past. And they also caused problems for their own country men.

Someone mentioned that the black and tans, (English soldiers that came to ireland ), were working class.

Yes but who do you think ordered them to come to Ireland. The rich and elite in the UK at the time, ordered the black and tans to come to Ireland .

The every-day English man and woman had no say in anything that happened to Ireland

Hatred keeps people stuck. It is good to forgive and move on to a better future.

💯

This thread is about the ridiculous levels of anti-Irish racism that is tolerated on this forum. While that particular comment was ridiculous and unacceptable, it is certainly not representative of the attitudes of most of the poster's on this thread. The majority of the racism on this thread has been exhibited by (presumably) English posters who continue to insist that offensive and racist phrases are acceptable.

And no, I am certainly not jealous of your englishness🤣🤣

🙄

Irish here as were parents and grandparents. As a child heard it used. Never thought to use it myself though. Thought it had faded from use.

Someone mentioned that the black and tans, (English soldiers that came to ireland ), were working class.
Yes but who do you think ordered them to come to Ireland. The rich and elite in the UK at the time, ordered the black and tans to come to Ireland

Ah yes. Just following orders. Where have I heard that before?

And no, much of the atrocities committed by the B&Ts were not as a result of " following orders". They embraced their barbarism with enthusiasm.

The Black and Tans were indeed terrible. Aren’t we lucky that our generation never experienced what are grandparents experienced ( and people still experience across the globe today )

Cambridge dictionary gives it 3 meanings:

1. Offensive Irish slang
2. a field where rice grows
3. old fashioned English term meaning angry

I’ve summarised, but it’s very clear that it separates the meanings.

My personal view is that the word when used to be deliberately derogatory to the Irish is wrong. Someone saying dd is having a paddy is a description of a situation and not aimed as an Irish slur. Language evolves and tone, timing and intent matter.

Knowing it could be interpreted in a way I wouldn’t intend, I wouldn’t use it but I wouldn’t get stressed about it. None of my Irish family do. That doesn’t mean I can’t be respectful to others.

Forgotten The Troubles @MonikerTwo? There are people on here who have lived through terrible times

My mention of the B&Ts was in response to the poster who claimed that the horrors committed against the Irish were only done by aristocratic types, rather than the ancestors of more ordinary people.

And yes, while most of us in the Republic today have not had to endure atrocities of that nature at the hands of the British (well other than the victims of the collusion resulting in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings), there are many Irish people living in NI who have had to endure atrocities committed by British forces.

Offensive Irish slang
It's English slang not Irish for starters

You lived through the Black and Tans? 🧐
Ive lived through some terrible times myself ..

Again with the lack of comprehension. Where did I say that @MonikerTwo? Please read my posts carefully.

Yes - I know all about that. I’ve personal experience. That’s why I’m glad things are so much better now.

Can't believe I reported a post 13 data ago because I didn't fancy an argument. That went well. 😭😭😭

@BarbaraHoward

Apologies for not giving your posts close enough attention @JaneJeffer

.

Yes. No one I know uses the phrase .

The first and third meanings are linked @TeenLifeMum as has been explained many times now. If you dig a little deeper with your research you’ll find that to be true.
It’s not ‘Irish slang’ either as pp pointed out but that’s not what the dictionary said anyway I’m sure.

Paddy fields are different.

Language does evolve, but some phrases just shouldn’t be allowed stand. It’s as simple as that really.

https://books.openedition.org/pufr/5076?lang=en#:~:text=Paddy%20came%20to%20mean%20a,police%20van%2C%20underscored%20this%20association.

i doubt anyone is ever referring to a field where aquatic crops grow. And you know it.

Are you aware that British soldiers were garrisoned in barracks across Ireland to 1922? The role of the "redcoats" in thousands of evictions for over a century, and what those evictions entailed - roofs knocked down, furniture and cooking utensils and bedding tossed out of little hovels and doors boarded up, with families left to starve or somehow pay the passage to anywhere else. The redcoats inspired fear and loathing in Ireland.

Are you aware that the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) was a semi-military force, billeted in people's homes and also residing in barracks, whose senior officers were almost to a man Anglo Irish, and that the leadership rejected the notion of any kinship with the Irish whom they policed? The RIC were there to secure property rights, not to safeguard the rights of the populace. They therefore played a prominent role in evictions too.

There were many years of extremely antagonistic relations on a very up close and personal level between the agents of government and the governed. This is all without even mentioning the plantations or the obligation to pay tithes for the building, maintenance, and staffing of the Church of Ireland.

Punch magazine, infamous for its cartoons depicting the Irish with simian features, had a wide circulation among ordinary Britons, and within recent memory Irish people seeking digs were faced with signs on rentals in the UK saying No blacks, No dogs, No Irish - written and posted by ordinary British landlords and landladies in lower rent areas of towns and cities. Obviously they weren't the only ethnic group to face discrimination in Britain, but that is cold comfort.

My father did. My grandmother was recovering from childbirth upstairs in her bedroom, and a band of them entered the house roaring drunk, pointed guns at the children, tossed furniture around, and set fire to the dining room curtains.

@BarbaraHoward I'm with you I've reported "Irish twins " and was told it doesn't break guidelines...... Slightly different I also reported false information information, hear say and plain untruths & "naming" the supposed killer whilst not using his direct name but plain obvious. in one topic ( to do with death, not too many details) and was told I could robustly disagree, I did, mind got deleted & I think I got an email regarding my "approach"

As a Catholic of Irish heritage married to same (we’ve always just said Irish Catholic but that might offend some here) I’m sure we know dozens of these and it’s exactly what happened. Catholics didn’t use contraception, and babies were had. To me the term is firmly reality based so I can’t find that offensive.