Irish bull

An Irish bull is a ludicrous, incongruent or logically absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author. The inclusion of the epithet Irish 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 Sir Boyle 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 been Sheridan's model for Mrs Malaprop.[5]

  1. ^ Brown, Lesley (1993). The New shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN 0-19-861271-0.
  2. ^ Rabkin, Eric S. "Taking the bull (by the horns?)" The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 99 University of Michigan Libraries, 1992 p.18
  3. ^ Falkiner, C. Litton (1902). "Sir Boyle Roche". Studies in Irish history and biography, Mainly of the Eighteenth Century. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 228–240.
  4. ^ Geoghegan, Patrick M. (1999). "The union passes". The Irish Act of Union. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 110.
  5. ^ Maye, Bryan (14 February 2000). "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. p. 17.