Taig
Encyclopedia
Taig is a derogatory term for an Irish Catholic
. It is mainly used by sectarian
loyalists
in Northern Ireland
and Scotland
. It has been used in sectarian slogans such as "Kill All Taigs" (KAT), "All Taigs Are Targets" (ATAT) and "Any Taig Will Do". The latter was painted on murals by loyalist paramilitary prisoners during "The Troubles
" and implied that all Irish Catholics were legitimate targets. Conversely, sectarian Catholics sometimes use the derogatory term "hun" to refer to Protestants and the sectarian slogan "Kill All Huns" (KAH) can sometimes be found in graffiti.
derived from the Irish male firstname
Tadhg
. The Irish phrase Tadhg an mhargaidh" (Tadhg of the market) or "Tadhg na sráide" (Tadhg of the street) predates the derogatory use of the term and was once used in a similar way to the modern expression "average Joe
" or "man on the street". Tadhg an dá thaobh (meaning "Tadhg of the two sides") is equivalent to the English word "turncoat".
, Taig usually implies that the person has Irish nationalist
sympathies. Also, whereas Paddy is often used in a jocular context or incorporated into mournful pro-Irish sentiment (i.e. the songs Poor Paddy On The Railway and Paddy's Lament), the term Taig remains a slur in almost every context. It has also been used to describe Irish Catholics perceived as a threat to law and order
. Sometimes the term is widened to include all Roman Catholics.
Teague has been reclaimed by some Irish nationalists as an ironic self-identifier in the same way that other terms of disparagement have been adopted by certain people they describe. In contemporary sources, the difference in spelling between taig and teague often indicates a difference in connotation akin to the difference between nigger
and nigga
.
may originate in the 17th century plantations of Ireland
. Early written accounts coincide with the Williamite War
.
In the late 1680s, the term appears in the satirical
Williamite
ballad Lilliburlero which includes the line "Ho brother Taig hast thou heard the decree?" In 1698, John Dunton
wrote a mocking account of Ireland titled Teague Land - or A Ramble with the Wild Irish. Thereafter the derogatory use of the term was frequent.
However, there is also evidence from this era of the word being used as a self-identifier by rebellious Irish Catholics. An Irish language Jacobite
poem written in the 1690s includes the following lines:
Translation:
Although the term has rarely been used in North America
, a notable example of such use was when John Adams
defended the British Army
soldiers responsible for the 1770 Boston Massacre
by explaining they were acting in self defence against:
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
. It is mainly used by sectarian
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
loyalists
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It has been used in sectarian slogans such as "Kill All Taigs" (KAT), "All Taigs Are Targets" (ATAT) and "Any Taig Will Do". The latter was painted on murals by loyalist paramilitary prisoners during "The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
" and implied that all Irish Catholics were legitimate targets. Conversely, sectarian Catholics sometimes use the derogatory term "hun" to refer to Protestants and the sectarian slogan "Kill All Huns" (KAH) can sometimes be found in graffiti.
Etymology
The term is a synecdocheSynecdoche
Synecdoche , meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech in which a term is used in one of the following ways:* Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing , or...
derived from the Irish male firstname
Irish name
A formal Irish-language name consists of a given name and a surname. Surnames in Irish are generally patronymic in etymology, although they are no longer literal patronyms, as Icelandic names are...
Tadhg
Tadhg
Tadhg ,often Anglicized as Teague and sometimes as Tim, is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic boy's name that was very common in the past. This was also the name of an 11th-century king of Connacht....
. The Irish phrase Tadhg an mhargaidh" (Tadhg of the market) or "Tadhg na sráide" (Tadhg of the street) predates the derogatory use of the term and was once used in a similar way to the modern expression "average Joe
Average Joe
Average Joe is an American reality television show broadcast on the NBC beginning in 2003. There were a total of four seasons, the first two following the original show premise, and the last two bringing back contestants from prior seasons.-Show Premise:...
" or "man on the street". Tadhg an dá thaobh (meaning "Tadhg of the two sides") is equivalent to the English word "turncoat".
Connotations
Unlike Paddy, another derogatory term for an Irish personIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, Taig usually implies that the person has Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
sympathies. Also, whereas Paddy is often used in a jocular context or incorporated into mournful pro-Irish sentiment (i.e. the songs Poor Paddy On The Railway and Paddy's Lament), the term Taig remains a slur in almost every context. It has also been used to describe Irish Catholics perceived as a threat to law and order
Law and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
. Sometimes the term is widened to include all Roman Catholics.
Teague has been reclaimed by some Irish nationalists as an ironic self-identifier in the same way that other terms of disparagement have been adopted by certain people they describe. In contemporary sources, the difference in spelling between taig and teague often indicates a difference in connotation akin to the difference between nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
and nigga
Nigga
Nigga is a term used in African American Vernacular English that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger .- Use in language :In practice, its use and meaning are...
.
History
The use of the term as an insultInsult
An insult is an expression, statement which is considered degrading and offensive. Insults may be intentional or accidental...
may originate in the 17th century plantations of Ireland
Plantations of Ireland
Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were the confiscation of land by the English crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands....
. Early written accounts coincide with the Williamite War
Williamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
.
In the late 1680s, the term appears in the satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
Williamite
Williamite
Williamite refers to the followers of King William III of England who deposed King James II in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs....
ballad Lilliburlero which includes the line "Ho brother Taig hast thou heard the decree?" In 1698, John Dunton
John Dunton
John Dunton was an English bookseller and author. In 1691, he founded an Athenian Society to publish The Athenian Mercury, the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England.-Early life:...
wrote a mocking account of Ireland titled Teague Land - or A Ramble with the Wild Irish. Thereafter the derogatory use of the term was frequent.
However, there is also evidence from this era of the word being used as a self-identifier by rebellious Irish Catholics. An Irish language Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
poem written in the 1690s includes the following lines:
"You PopishPapistPapist is a term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
rogue", ní leomhaid a labhairt sinn
acht "CromwellianCromwellian conquest of IrelandThe Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
dog" is focal faire againn
nó "cia sud thall" go teann gan eagla
"Mise Tadhg" géadh teinn an t-agallamh
Translation:
"You Popish rogue" is not spoken
but "Cromwellian dog" is our watchword,
"Who goes there" does not provoke fear,
"I am Tadhg" is the answer given
Although the term has rarely been used in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, a notable example of such use was when John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
defended the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldiers responsible for the 1770 Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre, called the Boston Riot by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five civilian men. British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support...
by explaining they were acting in self defence against:
"a motleyMotleyMotley refers to the traditional costume of the court jester, or the harlequin character in commedia dell'arte. The latter wears a patchwork of red, green and blue diamonds that is still a fashion motif....
rabble of saucy boys, negroNegroThe word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
s and molattoesMulattoMulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
, Irish Teagues and outlandish jack tarrsJack TarJack Tar was a common English term used to refer to seamen of the Merchant or Royal Navy, particularly during the period of the British Empire. Both members of the public, and seafarers themselves, made use of the name in identifying those who went to sea...
"
See also
- FenianFenianThe Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...
- HunsHunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
- Segregation in Northern IrelandSegregation in Northern IrelandSegregation in Northern Ireland is a long-running issue in the political and social history of Northern Ireland. The segregation involves Northern Ireland's two main communities – its nationalist/republican community and its unionist/loyalist community...
- Sectarianism in GlasgowSectarianism in GlasgowSectarianism in Glasgow takes the form of religious and political sectarian rivalry between Roman Catholics and Protestants. It is reinforced by the fierce rivalry between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C., the two Old Firm football clubs...