Irish bull

Irish bull

An Irish bull is a ludicrous, incongruent or logically absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author.

"Irish bull" originated in this use because such expressions often fall between two different statements, as between the horns of a bull. The Irish were supposedly peculiarly prone to such expressions due to their volubility, their taste for colourful metaphors, and their ignorance (or conversely excessive command) of the English language. Extensive use of Irish Bulls are made of by American Jewish humourists, from the period when large numbers of recent Jewish immigrants from Germany or Eastern Europe were present in American cities, which suggests that a similar effect produced the term "Irish Bull", which is partly contemptuous and partly "homage".

The "Irish Bull" is to the sense of a statement what the dangling participle is to the syntax. A jarring or amusing absurdity is created by hastiness or lack of attention to speech or writing.

Although, strictly speaking, Irish bulls are so structured grammatically as to be logically meaningless, their actual effect upon listeners is usually to give vivid illustrations to obvious truths. Hence, as the Rev. Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, famously observed, "an Irish Bull is always pregnant", i.e. with truthful meaning.

The "father" of the Irish bull is often said to be Sir Boyle Rochecite book
last=Falkiner
first=C. Litton
title=Studies in Irish history and biography, Mainly of the Eighteenth Century
publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co.
location=New York
chapter=Sir Boyle Roche
pages=pp.228-240
year=1902
] ,who once asked ""Why we should put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?"cite book
last=Geoghegan
first=Patrick M.
title=The Irish Act of Union
year=1999
publisher=St. Martin's Press
location=New York
chapter=The union passes
pages=110
] . Roche may have been Sheridan's model for Mrs Malaprop.cite news
first=Bryan
last=Maye
work=The Irish Times
title=An Irishman's Diary
date=2000-02-14
accessdate=2006-06-19
page=17
]

Samuel Goldwyn was a famous American mis-speaker, as was Yogi Berra (see Examples below).

The Irish Bull can be a potent form of self-conscious equivocation and satire in the hands of a wit's sharp tongue. As such, it is associated particularly with new or marginalized populations, such as the Irish in Britain in the Nineteenth Century, or the Jews and Germans in America in the Early Twentieth Century.

Examples

*"If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive."- Samuel Goldwyn, movie producer (1882-1974)
*"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."- Yogi Berra, baseball player (1925- )
*"Back to back, they faced each other"- Anonymous
*"He'd be turning in his grave if he were alive today"- Anonymous
*"Hold me back while I hit him"-Anonymous
*"It would be a lovely day if it wasn't for the weather"-Anonymous

Footnotes

Other references

* cite book
last = Grierson
first = Philip
year = 1938
title = Irish bulls
location = Cambridge

ee also

*Colemanballs
*Oxymoron


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Irish bull — n. BULL3 …   English World dictionary

  • Irish bull — noun obscene words for unacceptable behavior I put up with a lot of bullshit from that jerk what he said was mostly bull • Syn: ↑bullshit, ↑bull, ↑horseshit, ↑shit, ↑crap, ↑dogshit …   Useful english dictionary

  • Irish Bull Terrier — Irish Bull Terriers are a breed of dog in the terrier group.They look similar to English Bull Terriers but have longer legs. They have long noses. They can be white, black, brown, or of mixed colors.ee also*Bull Terrier *Irish/Afgan Terrier …   Wikipedia

  • Irish bull — noun Date: 1802 an incongruous statement (as “it was hereditary in his family to have no children”) …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Irish bull — a paradoxical statement that appears at first to make sense. Example: He s the kind of guy who looks you right in the eye as he stabs you in the back. [1795 1805] * * * …   Universalium

  • Bull — Bull, n. [OE. bule, bul, bole; akin to D. bul, G. bulle, Icel. boli, Lith. bullus, Lett. bollis, Russ. vol ; prob. fr. the root of AS. bellan, E. bellow.] 1. (Zo[ o]l.) The male of any species of cattle ({Bovid[ae]}); hence, the male of any large …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Bull baiting — Bull Bull, n. [OE. bule, bul, bole; akin to D. bul, G. bulle, Icel. boli, Lith. bullus, Lett. bollis, Russ. vol ; prob. fr. the root of AS. bellan, E. bellow.] 1. (Zo[ o]l.) The male of any species of cattle ({Bovid[ae]}); hence, the male of any… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Irish — adj. & n. adj. of or relating to Ireland; of or like its people. n. 1 the Celtic language of Ireland. 2 (prec. by the; treated as pl.) the people of Ireland. Phrases and idioms: Irish bull = BULL(3). Irish coffee coffee mixed with a dash of… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Bull — A Bull is an adult male of various large mammal species including elk, moose, bovines (especially cattle), elephants, whales, seals, and sea lions.Bull may also refer to:* A man who has sex with a woman in another relationship, thus making the… …   Wikipedia

  • bull — 1. n., adj., & v. n. 1 a an uncastrated male bovine animal. b a male of the whale, elephant, and other large animals. 2 (the Bull) the zodiacal sign or constellation Taurus. 3 Brit. the bull s eye of a target. 4 Stock Exch. a person who buys… …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”