Irish Slang - Blackguard
You speak English. You’ve heard most of Ireland does as well. You may have heard the Irish speak the best english in the world. In any case, the last thing you may be expecting is communication difficulties on your visit to the emerald isle.
Most of the potentential pitfalls in your conversations may come from the slang used here. This is the thirty-seventh in a series I’ve been publishing of some common Irish slang that used to confuse us when we first arrived.
Blackguard = A bad person. Or, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “a term of the utmost opprobrium.” Utmost opprobrium: sometimes I just love the English language.
Always pronounced “blaggard”, this is a word used primarily by the older Irish generation (in instances, it should be noted, where the younger uses something more profane [like bollocks]).
It’s also used as a verb to indicate someone’s behavior: “He’s only blaggardin’ ya”.
The origins of this word have been lost to time, but the OED dates it back to the 15th century. It is thought to refer either to the colour of someone’s soul (black) or perhaps the colour worn by the stern, elite guards of the King.
My first thought when I heard it was of someone guarding a furnace or maybe denizens of underworld? Then again, my imagination is known to get carried away with me . . .
By Seán | Permalink |
5 comments | August 19th, 2007 | Trackback
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Oh also, I am drinking beer and munching on a pack of TAYTOS!!!! LOL!!!
Did i mention I was Irish? hehe
Seanieboy - Sounds like you’ve been given a colloquial explanation. Understandable, as “blackguard” certainly SOUNDS like it could refer to the black and tans.
Unfortunately, the OED records its first usage in the 15th century, predating the British black and tan troops by about 400 years. Its usage was well-entrenched on both sides of the Irish sea prior to the 1920s when England sent those dregs of humanity called the “black and tans” to Irish shores.
There is a record of a famous Moroccon “blackguard” who had a presence in France and Portugal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackguard ); stories of them could easily have reached Ireland. Problem is, the Moroccon blackguard were 17th century.
Dictionary.com claims its origins stem from a name given to the lowest court servants of noble houses who, dirty from their work, were called “the black guard.” I dunno - that sounds kinda makey-uppy to me.
In any case, no one questions that it was a popular word in this part of the world prior to the 1920s and that first published usage dates back the the early 1500s.
Mmmm taytos.
Me tail is between me legs….
I remember my teachers telling us what I told you, but I guess you’re correct!
Never trust anyone over 30, says you. *grin*
Look at it this way, the black and tans were certainly blaggards, all, eh?
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“The origins of this word have been lost to time”
What??!!
No they have not!
I am born and bred Irish and everybody knows that the word “Blackguard” refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, which the Irish folk called the “Black and Tans”.
The “Black and Tans” were a shabby paramilitary style police force set up in the 1920s by the English. Their goal was to forcefully and often violently keep a lid on the Irish spirit.
Thus, a Blackguard means “bad person”, stemming from the “Black and Tans”. (Black-guard… geddit?)
Here’s a link explaining the jist of the B&Ts….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tans
By the way I am born and bred Irish.