Plastic Paddy

English

Alternative forms

• plastic Paddy

Etymology

From the sense of plastic as fake, ersatz, inauthentic, etc. and Paddy (“Patrick”) as a generic name for any Irish man.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ædi

Noun

Plastic Paddy (plural Plastic Paddies)

1. (humorous, sometimes pejorative) A person of another ethnicity considered to be passing or posing as Irish.
   • 1993, “Plastic Paddy”, in Mirrors‎^[1], performed by Eric Bogle:

     He’s just a Plastic Paddy singing Plastic Paddy songs. In a Plastic Paddy pub that they call The Blarney Stone. There’s plastic shamrocks everywhere. There’s Guinness and green beer. And a sign in Gaelic above the bar which says “God Bless All Here”.

2. (derogatory, ethnic slur) An Irish person considered to be inauthentically Irish, especially (UK) recent Irish arrivals to London.

Translations

A person pretending to be Irish

• French: faux Irlandais
• Irish: Páidín Plaisteach

See also

1. Hollywood Irish