Sunday, February 14, 2010



"Paddy" an offensive word in Britain?

We read:
"It began in December 2007, when Cllr Ken Bamber (Con) told an 'Irish' joke during a break in a meeting to discuss an appeal against dismissal. Union official Brian Kelly took offence at the use of the word "Paddy" and filed an official complaint.

Now agreement has finally been reached between the two and Medway Council has agreed to pay compensation to Mr Kelly, who was its full-time Unison official.

Details are being kept private, but it is thought the agreement was reached at the conciliation service, ACAS, after it was referred there by the Employment Tribunal.

Cllr Bamber was chairing the appeal hearing when the joke was told during a break in proceedings. The Irish-born union representative said he considered "Paddy" was an offensive word and racist in intent. Cllr Bamber scribbled a note saying he apologised, but it was alleged he would not sign it or say for what he was apologising.

The offending joke:

"A man walked into a Dublin bar and saw a friend sitting with an empy glass. 'Paddy can I buy you another', he asked, to which Paddy replied - 'now what would I be wanting with another empty glass?'"

Source

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could this be the same Paddy?

Paddy Murphy is waiting for wife to give birth in a Dublin hospital. The doctor comes in and informs the dad that his son was born without torso, arms or legs.

The son is just a head!

But Paddy loves his son and raises him as well as he can, with love and compassion. After 18 years, the son is old enough for his first drink. Paddy takes him to the local pub and tearfully tells the son he is proud of him.

Proud Paddy orders up the biggest, strongest drink for his boy. With all the pub patrons looking on curiously and the barman shaking his head in disbelief, the boy takes his first sip of alcohol.

His head spins he starts to shake he lets out an amazing cry and WHOAH! All of a sudden a torso pops out!

The entire pub is dead silent; then bursts into a whoop of joy. Paddy, shocked, begs his son to drink again. The patrons chant: "Take another drink!"

The barman still shakes his head in dismay. The excited boy swallows the drink and all of a sudden two arms pop out of his newly developed torso.

The pub goes wild, but the barman is clearly disapproving.
Paddy, crying and wailing, begs his son to drink again. The patrons chant "Take another drink!" The barman reluctantly pours another drink and serves it to the delighted lad.

By now the boy is getting tipsy, and with his new hands he reaches down, grabs his drink and guzzles the last of it. It performs its magic and immediately two legs pop out. The pub erupts in joyful chaos. Paddy falls to his knees and tearfully gives thanks to God.

The boy stands up on his new legs and stumbles to the left, then to the right, he starts shuffling and walking and thrilled with his new legs starts dancing, dancing, dancing all the way out through the front door, onto the street, and delirious with joy slips into the road where a huge lorry runs over him and kills him instantly.

The pub falls silent. Poor Paddy moans in grief.....

The barman sighs and says,

"That boy should have quit while he was a head."

Anonymous said...

My Irish Grandfather was always called "Paddy". He died in 1984. I never knew that I was being disrectful until today.

Anonymous said...

Would they prefer being called drunks?

Another story from the totally PC'ized Britain. Personally, i can't wait for the radical Muslims to take complete control of Britain, rather than the almost-complete control they have now. At least all this PC crap will stop, and we can then sit back and enjoy the beheadings on TV.

Anonymous said...

4:54 It was the Irishman who took offence and exploited PCism for financial compensation - but you blame Britain (again!).

Larry E. said...

Q: What's Irish and stays out all night?
A: Paddy O'Furniture.

Robert said...

I vaguely remember a joke about a frog coming into a bank and showing a trinket to a loan officer named Paddy Whack as collateral. She took the trinket to her boss, asking what she should do, and her boss replied, "That's a knick-knack, Paddy Whack, so give the frog a loan."

Anonymous said...

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.