AnIrish bull is a ludicrous, incongruent orlogically absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author. The inclusion of the epithetIrish is a late addition.[1]
John Pentland Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, observed, "an Irish bull is always pregnant", i.e. with truthful meaning.[2]The "father" of the Irish bull is often said to be SirBoyle Roche,[3]who once asked "Why should we put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?".[4] Roche may have beenSheridan's model forMrs Malaprop.[5]
The derivation of "bull" in this sense is unclear. It may be related toOld Frenchboul "fraud, deceit, trickery",Icelandicbull "nonsense",Middle Englishbull "falsehood", or the verbbull "befool, mock, cheat".[6]
As the Oxford English Dictionary points out, the epithet "Irish" is a more recent addition, the original wordbull for such nonsense having been traced back at least to the early 17th century.[1] By the late 19th century the expressionIrish bull was well known, but writers were expressing reservations such as: "But it is a cruel injustice to poor Paddy to speak of the genuine 'bull' as something distinctly Irish, when countless examples of the same kind of blunder, not a whit less startling, are to be found elsewhere." The passage continues, presenting Scottish, English and French specimens in support.[7]
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