Paddy, Jock and Taffy; origin and translation to Polish

Terms like Jock, Paddy or Taffy - any idea of their origin ?
How far are they derogatory ?
What would be Polish translation ?

Paddy, if from Patrick, sounds like Polish Pepik (Joseph) for Czechs to me.

Patrick


Daffyv (David)


I thought that jock means mięśniak

Taffy.
Here you have wikipedia entry on that keyword.

Shocking nursery rhyme:

Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief;
Taffy came to my house and stole a piece of beef;
I went to Taffy's house, Taffy wasn't in;
I jumped upon his Sunday hat and poked it with a pin.

Were there really so much bad ethnic strains among UK nations?

To a large extent.

The standard English insult based on nationality.

Taff is probably more common that Taffy though.

What about infamouse "Pollack" then?

That too.

When I said "English" above, I meant the nationality rather than the language on this occasion.

taffy from the river taff

jocks from scottish soldiers

paddy from patrick

Well, at times, definitely:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meibion_Glynd%C5%B5r

What's the derogotory term for the English? Australians call them poms and Americans -- limeys.

The Irish and Scottish have sasanach/sassenach, or versions of them e.g. sassy.
They are not very common though - not in Ireland anyway.

In Ireland, the term Brits is usually derogatory - which confusingly, in practice really refers to the English rather than the Welsh or Scottish.

To further confuse matters, most English people would use the term Brit about themselves, no problem, and usually quite proudly e.g. "Well, we Brits ..." etc.

Something like Polak - perfectly normal in Polish but deropgatory in English.

Kind of, yes.

I thought it was derived from the name 'John' or 'Jack'. can also be lenthened to "jockstrap" (but i wouldn't advise it!).

Irish also called "Micks". Scots occasionally called "Haggis" (again, not advisable within throwing distance of an irn-bru bottle).


Allegedly "Poms" from the convicts wearing POHM (prisoners of her majesty) and "Limeys" from drinking lime juice to prevent scurvy (not sure about that one though).

In Ireland occasionally heard the term 'Tan' (from "Black and Tans", a paramilitary unit of the British security forces in 1920's).

How insulting these are pretty much depends on context and who's saying it. When I was in the army Scots, Welsh and Irish were called Jock, Taff and Paddy almost universally (even if the Irish guys were Ulstermen). I doubt I'd use them to anyone i didn't know, but often people take it in good humour (if it's meant that way).

No one use the term Taffy these days..and they certainly dont have kids singing rhyms like that either..

(it did make me lol though)


That would be in the South then, because most Brits in the North are pretty happy to be called Brits..No?


Is a diminutive of John.


Is a diminutive of Patrick (they also use Packi too)


The term "Taffy" may be a merging of the common Welsh name "Dafydd" and the Welsh river "Taff" on which Cardiff is built, and seems to have been in use by the mid-eighteenth century.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taffy_was_a_Welshman

(they even had alternative endings!)

I went to Taffy's house, Taffy was in bed,
I took the marrow bone and beat about his head

It would seem not a lot of people liked Taffy :(

Just English will do ;)


Never heard of that one before :/

so did i, but wiki or whatever told me different. as it happens, a number of my ''jock'' rellies were called john. i think i'll agree to your thought.

the taff thing i was told by a welshman so i'll stick with that.

I heard that POMs was an abbreviated form of pomegranate - a (very) rough rhyming slang for immigrant (!)

Hadn't actually heard your version but to be honest it sounds much more likely.

The lime/limey reference is pretty widely accepted though I think.


Yeah, it's really not common though.


Hmmm. Not sure. Technically, yes, the majority shouldn't have an issue with it but context is all. It's probably fighting talk in NI - regarded as confrontational or challenging.

That one is true.

Its hardly a current insult..possibly many moons ago, although you do get the odd comedian on here using it...I wouldnt say its accepted / unaccepted, Id say we're indifferent, but I find it quite strange that people still use it..


I always thought Jock was like John / Jack..

yep, i've gone back to that thought.

No wonder, Taffy's a real bastаrd.... (and he never gave back those CDs he 'borrowed' either).

Jock comes from the 9th Division.
But it's also just slang for John, Jack, Ian ect. Meaning normal man.

I meant that the the origin of the word, as posted by Trevek, was widely accepted.

so i was right then wrong then right. i give up.

Which was later reversed to POME by the Australians ( Prisoner of Mother England )


Some beliefs are that "mick" comes from the common "Mc" in many Irish names.

Maybe - I'd say it's more likely simply that Michael/Mick is a common name in Ireland (ar at least was)

I would go along with that, outside of the army "Jock" isn't widely used, unless the guy is called Jock.


Alka Seltzers, FEBs, Sassenachs etc etc

The French may refer to us Brits as Rosbifs or Rosbeefs. One explanation of this term is that it originally referred to English style of cooking roast beef, and especially to the song The Roast Beef of Old England.

During the Hundred Years War, the French took to calling the English Les Goddams because of their frequent use of expletives!