Spread laughter and positive energy with wordplay! Dictomancy - Everyday Wordplay is a Wednesday blog series that features rare, bizarre, and absurd words and their meanings. Work one of these words into your day and spark some laughter and curiosity!
Paddywhack - padd*y*whack n also paddywhacker 1909 DN 3.421 Cape Cod MA (as of a1857), Paddywhacker . . . An Irish ragamuffin. 1912 Green VA Folk-Speech 310, Paddy Whack . . .An Irishman. 1941 LANE Map 454 (Nicknames for an Irishman) 1 inf, ceMA, Paddywhacker; 1 inf, nME, Paddywhack; 1 inf, seRI, Cf. the rime sung by children to annoy an Irishman. . .
“Does this make paddywhack a swear word?”
“Always knew I was a ragamuffin. Now I’m a paddywhacker.”
“If you get hacked by an Irishman, does that make him a paddyhacker?”
“Pretty sure we all sang that children’s song back in the day. Now you can teach your kids what it means.”
Please share and comment on today’s Dictomancy and feel free to post your uses for the words in a positive, lighthearted way. Audience participation makes Everyday Wordplay hilarious!
Works Cited
Cassidy, Frederic G. Chief Editor. Dictionary Of American Regional English. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985. Print