Is saying ‘having a paddy’ racist?

[PanickyBrum1]

I’m a new parent who posted for the first time on mumsnet recently after having a very tired and at times unreasonable panic about things. Some of the things I wrote were not fair and I rightly got picked up on them and some things that the community attacked me about I would stand by. But one thing I’m genuinely not sure whether I should feel bad for was being condemned for using the phrase ‘having a paddy’.

To give context I was describing my own behaviour and although I’m half Irish by blood, the whole Irish thing hadn’t even occurred to me.

[ToElleWithIt]

I’m Irish and I find it offensive.

I’d give someone using it the fool’s pardon and wouldn’t cause a fuss if it was said in person. I really don’t understand why, having been told it’s offensive, you’re seemingly determined to continue using it. There’s no doubt it’s a perjorative term and is particularly problematic when used by someone English. Why not use one of the many other phrases at your disposal?

[Fitzsimmons]

Gosh I had no idea. It's a phrase I use often and so do all my friends and family from the area I grew up in on the Welsh borders. The link never occurred to me

[SleepingStandingUp]

I used paddy and paddywhack but only on mn did I have cause to contemplate its origins. I had assumed it was a local word like donnies (hands) (midlander)

[SoddingUnicorns]

Not a phrase I’d use because of the anti Irish connotations.

[LivLemler]

I'm Irish and had never heard it til I joined MN. I find it offensive.

This sums up my feelings:

I’d give someone using it the fool’s pardon and wouldn’t cause a fuss if it was said in person. I really don’t understand why, having been told it’s offensive, you’re seemingly determined to continue using it. There’s no doubt it’s a perjorative term and is particularly problematic when used by someone English. Why not use one of the many other phrases at your disposal?

[duckfuckduck]

I never heard it in Ireland I only heard it once I moved to England.

And I am another agreeing with ToElle.

[lecossaise]

In my part of Scotland we use "to be in a paddy", which isn't throwing a tantrum but more to be anxious or to have one's knickers in a twist about something... Does that come from the same stereotype?

[BerylStreep]

I agree that it is lazy stereotyping of Irish people, and is offensive. Just because someone knows someone else who is Irish and uses the term / isn't offended, doesn't mean in the broader context that it isn't an offensive term.

I agree with Ella - if I heard someone saying it I would most probably give them a fool's pardon, and depending on the circumstances, possibly explain the origins.

[RavenWings]

I'm Irish. Never heard that phrase used in Ireland and I doubt I ever will.

Tbh I wouldn't be angry about it if someone used it - people don't automatically know these things so I wouldn't fuss. I'd just pity the people who insist on using it in the face of explanations. They must have a very limited vocabulary and/or intelligence.

[SoddingUnicorns]

So, I guess the question is OP, now you’ve had the answers is it a phrase you’d use again or not?

[SmellyShoos]

Yes, it’s offensive.

[duckfuckduck]

The op thinks it’s “interesting” and can’t make his mind up. He’s more bothered about the fact my username has fuck in it.

It’s coming across as faintly condescending tbh.

[SoddingUnicorns]

Or is this another one of the sneaky Irish bashing threads that skate just this side of talk guidelines that have been popping up all over MN? You know the “oh I didn’t know it was offensive....”

[gettingtherequickly]

It is offensive, but I only found out a few years ago (when working for an Irish company), my very polite and MC parents have been using it for years without realising.....

[duckfuckduck]

I think you have it Sodding.

[SoddingUnicorns]

The thing is, people unintentionally use offensive and perjorative language all the time without realising (xenophobic, disablist, anti mental health).

It’s when they’re told it’s offensive and why and continue to use it that I get really pissed off.

[SoddingUnicorns]

@duckfuckduck been a fair few eh? And anti Scottish ones too.

[gettingtherequickly]

None of us use it now I hasten to add, luckily I was warned by an English colleague before I'd offended anyone at the firm.

[GothMummy]

I didn't realise it was anything to do with Irish people? I thought it meant having a tantrum/throwing toys out of the pram - that kind of thing. Why is it offensive? Sorry if I have unconsciously caused offence by using it to describe my toddler/horse having a meltdown......

[PanickyBrum1]

I think if you go back to my comment earlier I’d already said I wouldn’t use it again as it’s no bother to say ‘having a tantrum’ instead...

[SoddingUnicorns]

Paddy was/is a derogatory name for an Irish person, and the phrase basically means that Irish people are too thick to conduct themselves properly.

That’s why it’s so offensive.

[SoddingUnicorns]

The urban dictionary explains it better than I managed.

[duckfuckduck]

Again Sodding I agree.

Technically it might not be racist because Irish is an ethnicity not a race, but it’s still offensive to many Irish people.

[Mylifesarainbow]

Wow. People will literally strive to find things to get offended about.

If 'having a paddy' means to get upset and worked up about something silly, are we not perpetuating the stereotype by getting annoyed that Brenda in Huddersfield once told her toddler to stop paddying?

The mind boggles.

[duckfuckduck]

I’d probably avoid saying it as it’s not a bother to say ‘having a tantrum’ instead but where do you draw the line....

Not quite as equivocal as you’re trying to make out, is it?