Taig, and (primarily formerly) also Teague, are

anglicisation Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

s of the

Irish-language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...

male given name ''

Tadhg Tadhg (, ), (pronunciations given for the name ''Tadgh'' separately from those for the slang/pejorative ''Teague''.) commonly misspelled "Taig" or "Teague", is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic masculine name that was very common when the Goidelic l ...

'', used as

ethnic slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or ot ...

s for a stage Irishman. ''Taig'' in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

is most commonly used as a derogatory term by loyalists to refer to

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. ''Tadhg'' was once so common as an Irish name that it became synonymous with the typical person, with phrases like ' ("Tadhg of the market") akin to "

the man on the Clapham omnibus The man on the Clapham omnibus is a hypothetical ordinary and reasonable person, used by the courts in English law where it is necessary to decide whether a party has acted as a reasonable person would – for example, in a civil action for negli ...

" or " average Joe". In the late 1680s, the satirical

Williamite A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England (r. 1689–1702) who deposed King James II and VII in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs. O ...

ballad ''

Lillibullero "Lillibullero" (also spelled Lillibulero, Lilliburlero, or Lilli Burlero) is a march attributed to Henry Purcell that became popular in England at the time of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Background Henry Purcell is alleged to have c ...

'' includes the line: "Ho brother Taig hast thou heard the decree?" Conversely, the Irish-language name is used defiantly in a Jacobite poem written in the 1690s: ''"Who goes there" does not provoke fear / "I am Tadhg" is the answer given''. In 1698,

John Dunton John Dunton (4 May 1659 – 1733) was an English bookseller and author. In 1691 he founded The Athenian Society to publish '' The Athenian Mercury'', the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England. In 1693, for ...

wrote a mocking account of Ireland, titled ''Teague Land – or A Ramble with the Wild Irish''. Although the term has rarely been used in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, a notable example of such use was when future

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

and lawyer

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

successfully defended the soldiers responsible for the 1770

Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre (known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing t ...

by pleading to the jury that they were being attacked by:

... most probably a motley rabble of saucy boys,
negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...
s and molattoes, Irish Teagues and outlandish jack tarrs. —And why we should scruple to call such a set of people a mob, I can't conceive, unless the name is too respectable for them?"Summation of John Adams" in Rex v. Wemms
''umkc.edu''. Retrieved 15 September 2014.

In the context of

segregation in Northern Ireland Segregation in Northern Ireland is a long-running issue in the political and social history of Northern Ireland. The segregation involves Northern Ireland's two main voting blocs—Irish nationalist/republicans (mainly Roman Catholic) and unio ...

and

sectarianism in Glasgow Sectarianism in Glasgow takes the form of long-standing religious and political sectarian rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. It is particularly reinforced by the fierce rivalry between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C., the two largest Scott ...

, the term "Taig" is used as a derogatory term for a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, used by

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

Protestants and Ulster loyalists. In this sense, it is used in a similar way to the word

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

, but is more ethnic in terms of abuse against people of Gaelic descent than "Fenian", which more commonly signifies Irish republican. Extremist loyalists have also used slogans such as "Kill All Taigs" (KAT) and "All Taigs Are Targets" in graffiti.

References

External links

Dictionary definition of "Taig"
{{Religious slurs Anti-Catholic slurs Anti-Irish sentiment The Troubles (Northern Ireland)