Definitely ? Do you have any sources for this, beyond the wild speculations in UD, which are not supported by any print sources?
Unless it’s all a big giant anti-Irish conspiracy, I would think that somebody would have something on this.
We’ve provided multiple links, you’ve provided UD, which has been roundly trashed in all of the other links provided.
It is your prerogative to place your faith in UD.
It is our prerogative to say that such people are deluded.
Is like linguists pointing out to animal-rights activists that the word “kill” in names like “Fishkill” does not refer to violence against living things, and is instead a Dutch word meaning “river”, commonly used in areas of the NE originally settled by the Dutch? [1]
Because, uh, linguists have pointed out that “Taking the Mickey” is not related to the Irish, they’ve researched the printed literature, and it just isn’t there. The UD page is full of hand-wavy “maybe this” and “probably that” that no researcher has found to be true. Waving it about it our faces over breakfast, Mr. SeaLion, doesn’t change anything.
Assuming that this isn’t a fat fingers situation, you’re warping the phrase to suit your argument here - it’s ‘taking the mick’, not ‘Mc or Mac’ which might imply an Irish or Scottish link. Mick is short for ‘Michael’ and tedious people will sometimes render it as ‘extracting the Michael’ for reasons best known to themselves.
I can see why people might think it is a perjorative against Irish, I just think the case against is clearer.
I thought ‘raining cats and dogs’ was because during heavy rain, the droplets splash against the window they strike and it results in a paw-print effect…
I grew up in Carlisle, but I have/had relatives in Armathwaite, Ousby and Egremont (my uncle works at Sellafield). My Grandma lived in Cockermouth for a while, she worked in the old peoples flats at Wordsworth Court.
I dunno, I guess it’s because the ‘art’ is an act of desecration - and even if the desecration is merely symbolic - in that he could have picked up any old stone and there may be no real effect - the intent, which is the important bit, remains.
If the guy was a real internet hero, I’m sure there are plenty of other targets for this kind of treatment that would illustrate the point better. A thin strip from the Declaration of Independence? A photo of him weeing into the river Jordan?
Which is traditionally been what rituals of the Isles have been like. They are not very effective authorities if they think that the Church of England, transplanted from the Mediterranean, is more representative of their heritage than are the Celts.
I think it’s lack of sensible meaning is precisely the point, that somebody “taking the piss out of me” would be provoking me in a ludicrous way. I bet the Irish, with their love of bizarre phrases, have hundreds of idioms for divers kinds of nonsense.
It most certainly is not, not even a teeny bit. I happen to be Irish, are you? Actual Irish I mean, not Irish-American. If you take offense to something due to a glaring misunderstanding, then it’s you with the problem, not everyone else. The English certainly use the name Mick as a slur, usually as “stupid mick/paddy”, not sure if this usage was common in the states, though it’s not so common these days. This doesn’t render all uses of the name Michael as offensive though.
