Stop Insulting the Irish!

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, it is time to set something straight. Have you ever noticed that most foreigners speak with an accent? You wouldn’t say “listen to that lilting French brogue”, would you? Why then, do we call Irish and Scottish accents a brogue?

If you look up the word brogue in most dictionaries you will see that the first reference says something like: “a stout coarse shoe worn formerly in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands”. The second definition is “a dialect or regional pronunciation especially: an Irish accent” (from Merriam Webster). There are entomological references that “Barrog” in Irish meant speech impediment. So how did the term come to be applied to anyone with an Irish or Scottish accent?

If you know anything about Irish or Scottish history, you know that there has been a great deal of animosity between England and these Gaelic speaking countries. The conflict has brewed for centuries. For hundreds of years the English tried to wipe out the culture of these nations.

They forbade the practice of Catholicism. Priests hid from the English soldiers in caves, anyone caught attending Mass could be severely punished. Crucifixes and rosary beads were hidden from sight.

They forbade traditional instruments and music, they seized instruments in any place they were found and destroyed them in front of the household. The English would raid houses where they suspected “offences to the Crown”. They didn't need any proof.

They raped and pillaged their way all through Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Scots were treated as poorly as the Irish. The Scottish Highlanders were even forbidden to wear their clan Tartan. Kilts and bagpipes were hidden in barn walls to keep them from being destroyed. Any poor farmer caught doing just about ANYTHING could be arrested and shipped off to Australia or New Zealand as indentured servants. The Welsh fared no better, but you don’t hear as much about them. Perhaps their leaders were less vocal, but the history of that country is much like Scotland and Ireland both.

What has this all got to do with why Irish accents are called brogues? I am getting to that...

You see, the English of the time weren’t satisfied with taking away the religious and cultural practices of the people they were trying to dominate. No, they wanted to force them to speak English. The use of Gaelic was outlawed. I am sure that this was done because the English-speaking British could not understand the language. As a matter of fact, a common observation by the English was that the Irish (and Scots) spoke “like they had a shoe in their mouth”. Since the shoes worn in the area were called brogues, it would make sense that the expression was “like they had a brogue in their mouth”. Over time, the manner of speech became known as a brogue. What started out as a slur, had somehow morphed into the term used to describe all the people who spoke with an Irish or Scottish regional accent!

This is one of those facts you won’t read in a book. This is the type of thing the English don’t want to be remembered. While today, the term is usually used along with descriptors like “lilting” or “musical”, it was not meant to be a pleasant term. Even modern day Irish and Scottish people don’t realize they are being insulted when someone says they have a “lovely brogue”!

This little factoid is something you would probably never know unless, like me, you have Irish Rebels in your family tree.

Now that you know, do your part this St. Paddy’s Day and don’t use the word brogue!!