Origin of the word Paddywagon

B

Betsy Og

Registered User
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Heard Jonah Lomu use this word and was surprised to hear it was a worldwide (well, english speaking) phonomenon. As ever Wikip to the rescue. So you can either take the view that the name was given because it was driven by Irish cops in the US, or because it was frequented by Irish "passengers".

For some reason I assumed it had a UK origin (since I thought "Mick" was the more common phrase for Irish men in the US, Paddy being the UK version. The ladies are always Biddy.... (ouch!)).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddywagon
 
Paddywagon is of US origin and refers to the fact that a lot of the police in New York were Irish or of Irish descent. So they travelled in the ‘paddywagon’. It does not imply that the people transported in the back of the wagon, i.e. crime suspects, were Irish: if that were the case, it would have been referred to as the ‘dagowagon’ or the ‘spicwagon’; the Irish, of course, being, by and large, law abiding citizens. I was also surprised to hear it in common use in Australia.
 

As Wiki says " An alternative theory is similarly based on the term "Paddy" but states that the term arose due to the number of immigrant Irish being arrested for having consumed too much alcohol and taken away in the vehicles ".

Incidentally, I think I saw someplace there is some private company now taking groups of young and enthusiastic kiwis and aussies etc on holidays / tours around the watering holes of the country, in what they describe and is logoed / painted up as a "Paddywagon" in large letters. Looks like great fun.
 


Yes, along the lines of Kiwi Experience and Oz Experience tours in the respective countries. Due to recent sactions I cant reveal the affectionate name for the busses but lets just say the 2nd word was truck...
 
Mick was used frequently by Scottish left-footers.
 
No, but in a derogatory fashion. As in, "Mick, Pat and Matt were walking down the boraheen one afternoon at 5am" type of thing.
 
Simeon said:
No, but in a derogatory fashion. As in, "Mick, Pat and Matt were walking down the boraheen one afternoon at 5am" type of thing.
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Hmmm, boraheen versus bohareen. I thought it was only people in the west that mixed those two up?
 
Vanilla said:
Hmmm, boraheen versus bohareen. I thought it was only people in the west that mixed those two up?
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Well spotted Vanilla. I went to school in the West up to Leaving Cert. And to think that I thought that they taught me nuffink.
 
On the subject of word/phrase origins, I thought that daylight robbery was an interesting one.

Commonly thought to refer to cheeky, blatant overcharging in the sense that e.g. robbery that isn't even under the cover of darkness, but what it actually refers to is a very unpopular tax a few hundred years ago in England where a charge was levied based on the number and size of your windows.

Hence the common complaint from the public that their own 'daylight' was being charged for - or stolen.
 
I thought this was also the case in Ireland. Hence the tiny windows in cottages ........... portraying old Ireland.
 
what about the one "harbringers of doom" - I dont know if thats the spelling. Couldnt find it on Wiki.

All these phrases you kind of know and might throw into a conversation but wouldnt write down for fear of embarassment !
 
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