Parish of Inch, The

DESCRIPTION: On St Patrick's day the Teagues assembled at Downpatrick fair: "Protestant traitors with papists united Unfurled their green banners at Ballynahinch" and were confronted by the members of Four Hundred and Thirty, "the True Blues of the Parish of Inch"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (Smyth/Bush/Long-OrangeLark)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad political religious
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Smyth/Bush/Long-OrangeLark 22, "The Parish of Inch" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [179 words]: "Dictionary definition for 'Taig': Taig n. In Northern Ireland, a Protestant epithet for a Roman Catholic. Formerly, any Irishman. Also Teague." (source: Double-Tongued Word Wrester site.) "Lilliburlero" begins "Ho brother Teague, Dost hear de decree."
[The spelling "Teague" seems generally to be preferred; I suspect "Taig" is a result of local pronunciation. Eric Partridge's A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, fifth edition, gives alternate spellings "Teg" and "Teigue," and derives it from the Irish surname "Tadhg," pronounced "Teeg." As "Teg," it appears in the anthology "Merry Drollery" in 1661; it is also used by Swift. Listed as archaic since 1879, but still used in Ulster as late as 1904. - RBW]
Smyth/Bush/Long-OrangeLark: "Inch had L.O.L. 430 and the song compares its gallant members with the bad Protestants 'who would change their faith for a British half-crown.' On a certain St Patrick's Day they proved their loyalty and dependability to the distress of their enemies."
For "True Blue" Masonic Lodges see Notes to "Derry Walls Away." - BS
File: OrLa022

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