Taig

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Taig (also Teague, Teg and Teig) is a derogatory term for an Irish Catholic.

Rarely heard outside the United Kingdom, taig is the most vitriolic slur word in use against Irish Catholics and has been used by Loyalists in Northern Ireland in slogans such as "If guns are made for shooting, then skulls are made to crack. You’ve never seen a better Taig than with a bullet in his back" ^[1] and "Don’t be vague, kill a Taig".^[2]

1 Etymology
2 Connotations
3 History
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Etymology

The term is a synecdoche derived from the given name Tadhg. The Irish phrase "Tadhg an dá thaobh" (Tadhg of the street) predates the derogatory use of the term and is similar to the contemporary expressions "average Joe" and "man on the street".^[3].

[edit] Connotations

Unlike Paddy, another derogatory synecdoche for an Irish person, Taig usually implies Irish nationalistic sympathies. It has also been used to describe Irish Catholics perceived as a threat to law and order for whatever the reason. In the sectarian atmosphere of cities such as Belfast, the term has become generalized to include all Roman Catholics.^[3]

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.

Teague has been reclaimed by some Irish nationalists as an ironic self-identifier in the same fashion 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.^[3]

[edit] History

The use of the term as an insult 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.

Also from this era is record of this word being used as a self-identifier by rebellious Irish Catholics. An Irish language Jacobite poem composed in the 1690s includes the following:

You Popish rogue", ni leomhaid a labhairt sinn
acht "Cromwellian dog" is focal faire againn
no "cia sud thall" go teann gan eagla
"Mise Tadhg" geadh teinn an t-agallamh^[4]

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 the New World, a notable example of such use was when John Adams defended the British soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre by explaining they were assaulted by: