Plastic Paddy

The name Paddy is a diminutive form of the Irish name Patrick (Pádraic, Pádraig, Páraic) and, depending on context, can be used either as an affectionate or a pejorative reference to an Irishman.

The term "plastic Paddy", used as a slur or insult,{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/abroad/2023/10/12/the-insult-plastic-paddy-has-been-reclaimed-by-the-diaspora-who-are-proud-to-be-irish/ | work = The Irish Times | title = The insult Plastic Paddy has been reclaimed by the diaspora who are proud to be Irish | first = Annie | last = Driver | date = 12 October 2023 | accessdate = 25 October 2024 }} came into use in the 1980s when it was employed as a term of abuse by recently arrived middle-class Irish migrants to London.{{citation | url = https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/2246 | first = Marc | last = Scully | date = 2009 | title = 'Plastic and Proud'?: Discourse of Authenticity among the second generation Irish in England | pages = 126–127 | publisher = Open University }}{{citation | url = https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5606/1/402845.pdf | title = Second-Generation Irish Rock Musicians in England: Cultural Studies, Pop Journalism and Musical 'Roittes' | date = 2002 | page = 29 | first = Sean | last = Campbell | quote = This term ['plastic paddy'] had previously emerged in an ethnographic study of young, middle-class Irish migrants in London in the 1980s, who used it to refer to the English-born children of the previous wave of Irish immigrants [..] the label 'plastic Paddy' is, fundamentally, a derisive allusion to the perceived inauthenticity of the second-generation's identification with Irishness }} Mary J. Hickman, a professor of Irish studies and sociology at London Metropolitan University, states: it 'became a means of distancing themselves from established Irish communities.' And the use was a part of the process by which the second-generation Irish are positioned as inauthentic within the two identities, of Englishness and Irishness.{{citation | last1 = Hickman | first1 = M.J. |display-authors=etal | date = 2005 | title = The Limitations of Whiteness and the Boundaries of Englishness | journal = Ethnicities | issue = 5 | pages = 160–182 | quote = Cited in Marc Scully. (2009) "'Plastic and Proud'?: Discourse of Authenticity among the second generation Irish in England" }}

{{cquote|Ironically, both English hostility when faced with the spectre of Irish identities, and Irish denials of authenticity of those same identities, utilises the pejorative term 'plastic paddy' to stereotype and undermine processes 'of becoming' of Irish identities of second-generation Irish people. The message from each is that second-generation Irish are 'really English' and many of the second-generation resist this. }}

People who were not born in Ireland and/or did not grow up in Ireland, but nonetheless possess Irish citizenship (either through descent, marriage, or residence) are sometimes labelled "plastic Paddies" by members of Irish communities.{{cite book | last =Fallon | first =Steve | title =Home with Alice: A Journey in Gaelic Ireland | publisher =Lonely Planet | year =2002 | location =Melbourne | pages =30–32 }}

The term can have a different connotation depending on where it is used.

Within Ireland, "plastic Paddy" may refer to someone who misrepresents the Irish culture by enacting ethnic stereotypes that portray an inaccurate, outdated and offensive image of Ireland and Irish culture. This is often seen in non-Irish citizens who have a romantic or noble savage image of "the Irish Race" and those who enact stereotypes to appeal to tourists.{{cite web| last = Hegarty | first = Shane | date = 3 March 2007 | url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/slang-and-the-art-of-oirishness-1.1292970 | title = Slang and the art of Oirishness | work = The Irish Times}}{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/oops-now-its-signor-tripattoni/26475691.html | work=Irish Independent | first=Jason | last=O'Brien | title=Oops, now it's Signor Tripattoni | date=10 September 2008}}{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/festivals/heard-the-one-about-the-drunk-horny-leprechaun/26521732.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Heard the one about the drunk, horny leprechaun? | date=17 March 2009 | first = Susan | last = Daly }} This naming is a critical reaction to, and defiance of, the demeaning, inaccurate depictions of the Irish at celebrations that originated in the Irish diaspora, as well as the commercialisation and distortion of St. Patrick's Day.{{citation | title = The Wearing of the Green: A History of St Patrick's Day | first1 = Mike | last1 = Cronin | first2 = Daryl | last2 = Adair | page = 240 | year = 2004 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 9781134242313 }}

The Killarney Active Retirement Association displayed a banner promising to "Chase the plastic Paddy out of Ireland" in the Kerry 2005 St Patrick's Day celebrations,{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/thousands-salute-the-wearing-of-the-green-white-and-orange/25995526.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Thousands salute the wearing of the green, white and orange | date=18 March 2005}} and Irish journalists have used the term to characterise Irish bars in the diaspora as inauthentic and with the "minimum of plastic paddy trimmings".{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/where-to-stay-what-to-do-and-where-to-eat-205630.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Where To Stay, What To Do And Where To Eat | date=20 September 2003 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20121024195427/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/where-to-stay-what-to-do-and-where-to-eat-205630.html | archivedate = 24 October 2012 }}

"Plastic Paddy" has also been used as a derogatory term for Irish people who identify more with English culture than its Irish counterpart, such as those who support English football teams.{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/growth-bridge-queen-families-gaa-2198114.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Growth. . . Bridge. . . Queen. . . Families. . . GAA | date=28 May 2010 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100530145057/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/growth-bridge-queen-families-gaa-2198114.html | archivedate = 30 May 2010 }} First generation Irish-English model Erin O'Connor was called a "plastic Paddy" in Ireland due to her parents' choice of forename and non-Irish birth despite their both being Irish citizens.{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/erin-plots-a-pathway-to-the-stars/26476751.html | work=Irish Independent | first=Andrea | last=Byrne | title=Erin plots a pathway to the stars | date=14 September 2008}}

File:Dermot Oleary.jpg, born and raised in England to Irish parents, has described his upbringing as "classic plastic Paddy"{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/news/temp-head/25979847.html | work =Irish Independent | title = Temp Head | date = 11 June 2005 | accessdate = 15 December 2024 | quote = I had that classic plastic Paddy upbringing, back to Wexford every summer for six weeks }}]]

Mary J. Hickman writes that "plastic Paddy" was a term used to "deny and denigrate the second-generation Irish in Britain" in the 1980s, and was "frequently articulated by the new middle-class Irish immigrants in Britain, for whom it was a means of distancing themselves from established Irish communities".{{Cite journal |last=Hickman |first=Mary J. |author-link=Mary J. Hickman |date=2002 |title='Locating' the Irish Diaspora |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/079160350201100202 |journal=Irish Journal of Sociology |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=8–26 |doi=10.1177/079160350201100202 |issn=0791-6035}} According to Bronwen Walter, Professor of Irish Diaspora Studies at Anglia Ruskin University, the adoption of a hyphenated identity has been "much more problematic" for second-generation Irish people in Britain. Walter states that the majority of these people have "frequently denied the authenticity of their Irish identity" by referring to themselves as "plastic Paddies", while the English people around them regard them as "assimilated and simply English".{{citation | first = Bronwen | last = Walter | date = 2005 | chapter = Irish Diaspora | title = Immigration and asylum: from 1900 to the present, Volume 3 | editor3 = Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen | isbn = 1-57607-796-9}}

The term has been used to taunt non-Irish born players who choose to play for the Republic of Ireland national football team,{{cite web|url = https://www.thetimes.com/article/football-ireland-52sncbl5wb6 | title = Teenager under fire; Football Ireland | date = 26 November 2006 | work = Sunday Times (UK) |url-access= subscription | quote = [accused footballer James] McCarthy, among other things, of being a traitor and a Plastic Paddy }} fans of Irish teams who are members of supporters clubs outside Ireland,{{cite news | first = Ian | last = McCullough | title = Back of the Net | url = http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/sport/Backofnet.asp | work = The Irish Post| access-date = 5 January 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001818/http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/sport/Backofnet.asp | archive-date = 27 September 2007 | url-status = dead }} and other Irish individuals living in Britain.{{cite web|url = http://archives.tcm.ie/irishpost/2006/05/10/story4153.asp | title = A proud celebration of our new Irish identity | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629121702/http://archives.tcm.ie/irishpost/2006/05/10/story4153.asp |archivedate=29 June 2011 | work = The Irish Post | date = 10 May 2006}} A study by the University of Strathclyde and Nil by Mouth found the term was used abusively on Celtic and Rangers supporters' Internet forums in reference to Celtic supporters and the wider Catholic community in Scotland.{{citation | last1 = O'Loan | first1 = Sara | last2 = Poulter | first2 = Alan | last3 = McMenemy | first3 = David | date = 2005 |url = http://www.cis.strath.ac.uk/cis/research/publications/papers/strath_cis_publication_608.pdf | title = The Extent of Sectarianism Online | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191628/http://www.cis.strath.ac.uk/cis/research/publications/papers/strath_cis_publication_608.pdf |archivedate=3 March 2016 | place = Glasgow | publisher = University of Strathclyde | pages =108–9}} In August 2009, a man in Birmingham received a suspended sentence after making derogatory comments to a police officer who was of Irish descent. The prosecutor said the man had made racist remarks about the officer, including accusations that the officer was a "plastic Paddy".{{cite web| last = McCarthy | first = Ross | date = 11 August 2009 | url = http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/08/11/birmingham-man-given-suspended-sentence-for-racist-remarks-97319-24363892/ | title = Birmingham man given suspended sentence for racist remarks | work = Birmingham Mail | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120925091256/http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/08/11/birmingham-man-given-suspended-sentence-for-racist-remarks-97319-24363892/ | archivedate = 25 September 2012 }}

In Peter Stanford's book Why I Am Still a Catholic: Essays in Faith and Perseverance, the broadcaster Dermot O'Leary (who was born and raised in England to Irish parents){{cite web | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3635587/Dermot-OLeary-The-real-Dermot-stands-up.html | title = Dermot O'Leary: The real Dermot stands up | date = 11 February 2008 | accessdate = 15 December 2024 | first = Peter | last = Stanford | work = The Telegraph | quote = Both his parents were born and raised in Ireland and his was, he says, a "classic plastic Paddy upbringing" }} describes his upbringing as "classic plastic Paddy", mentioning that his cousins in Ireland would tease him for "being English" but would defend him if other Irish people tried to do the same.{{citation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GjPg3pPFtSAC&pg=PA81&dq=%22plastic+paddy%22&lr=&ei=ccDtSvXmDJXGywTlr_CcDw# | chapter = More than a Plastic Paddy | title = Why I Am Still a Catholic: Essays in Faith and Perseverance | editor-first = Peter |editor-last = Stanford | date = 2006 }} The comedian Jimmy Carr has also described himself as a "plastic Paddy".{{cite tweet| user = jimmycarr | number = 78067396748918785 | author = Jimmy Carr | title = I'm what they call a 'plastic paddy' with "Irish Blood English Heart" | date = 7 June 2011 | accessdate = 15 December 2024 }}

Brendan O'Neill uses the term in Spiked to refer to "second-generation wannabe" Irishmen, and writes that some of those guilty of "plastic Paddyism" (or, in his words, "Dermot-itis") include Bill Clinton, Daniel Day-Lewis and Shane MacGowan.{{cite web|url = http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/000000005523.htm | title = We're all Irish now | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528052926/http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/000000005523.htm |archivedate=28 May 2013 | work = Spiked | first = Brendan | last = O'Neill | date = 15 March 2001 }}

Plastic Paddy is typically used in a derogatory fashion towards those who identify as Irish Americans or who celebrate "Irishness" on Saint Patrick's Day, accusing them of having little actual connection to Irish culture.{{cite web | date = 17 March 2006 | title = Erin Go ARGH! The case against St. Patrick's Day. (And, no, I'm not British.) | first = Alex | last = Massie | authorlink = Alex Massie (journalist) | website = National Review | url = http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/massie200603170817.asp | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061107213516/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/massie200603170817.asp | archive-date =7 November 2006 }}{{cite web | first = Michelle | last = Byrne | title = Are you a plastic Paddy? | website = Evening Standard|location=London | url = http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-17050544-are-you-a-plastic-paddy.do | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110605082238/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-17050544-are-you-a-plastic-paddy.do | archive-date = 5 June 2011 }} For example, in 2009, the British mixed martial arts fighter Dan Hardy called American fighter Marcus Davis a "plastic Paddy" due to Marcus' perceived use of "gimmicks" to indicate his Irish ancestry.{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/5496836/Dan-Hardys-UFC-clash-with-Marcus-Davis-set-to-produce-fireworks.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614180206/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/5496836/Dan-Hardys-UFC-clash-with-Marcus-Davis-set-to-produce-fireworks.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=14 June 2009 | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=Dan Hardy's UFC clash with Marcus Davis set to produce fireworks | first=Gareth A | last=Davies | date=10 June 2009 | access-date=22 May 2010 | quote = [Hardy] labeled the American a "plastic Paddy" [..] Hardy insists: "He's all gimmicks with his Irish ancestry. He's only Irish when it suits him. Wearing a kilt and carrying a tricolour walking to fight doesn't make [him] a Celtic warrior" }}

Alex Massie, a Scottish journalist, wrote in National Review:

{{blockquote|When I was a student in Dublin we scoffed at the American celebration of St. Patrick, finding something preposterous in the green beer, the search for any connection, no matter how tenuous, to Ireland, the misty sentiment of it all that seemed so at odds with the Ireland we knew and actually lived in. Who were these people dressed as Leprechauns and why were they dressed that way? This Hibernian Brigadoon was a sham, a mockery, a Shamrockery of real Ireland and a remarkable exhibition of plastic paddyness. But at least it was confined to the Irish abroad and those foreigners desperate to find some trace of green in their blood. }}

{{portal|Ireland}}

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Cultural cringe
• Irish Blood, English Heart
• Plastic Brit
• Plastic shaman
• Symbolic ethnicity
• Tartanry
• West Brit

{{div col end}}

• {{citation | last = Campbell | first = Sean | date = 1999 | title = Beyond 'Plastic Paddy': A re‐examination of the second‐generation Irish in England | work = Immigrants & Minorities: Historical Studies in Ethnicity, Migration and Diaspora | volume = 18 | pages = 266–288 | doi = 10.1080/02619288.1999.9974977 }}
• {{citation | last = Scully | first = Marc | date = 2012 | title = The tyranny of transnational discourse: 'authenticity' and Irish diasporic identity in Ireland and England | work = Nations and Nationalism: Journal of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism | volume = 18 | issue = 2 | pages = 191–209 | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-8129.2011.00534.x }}

{{Reflist}}

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| first =Aidan

| title =Plastic Paddies vs. Master Racers: "Soccer" and Irish Identity

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| publisher =Staffordshire Univ, England

| year =2004

| doi =10.1177/1367877904047864

| issn =1367-8779

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}}

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| journal =Irish University Review

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| issn =0021-1427

}}

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}}

{{refend}}

{{Wiktionary}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060318084946/http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/03/14/story249310.html UK suffers from Plastic Paddy syndrome]

Category:Cultural appropriation

Category:English phrases

Category:Ethnic and religious slurs

Category:Irish diaspora

Category:Irish slang

Category:1980s neologisms