# Is calling McDonalds 'Mickey Ds' a black thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299 "2003-01-22T22:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/1 "2003-01-22T22:09:17Z")
Well, is it? Did it at least start out that way anyway? Because that’s kinda how I remember it. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/2 "2003-01-22T22:12:27Z")
I’d guess not. I grew up in a small misdwestern town that had very few people of color living there, and we used the nickname. Unless we picked it up from some TV show or song that I’m not remembering. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/3 "2003-01-22T22:14:44Z")
I am as whitebread as they come, and I call it Mickey D’s. (Among other, less flattering names.) ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/4 "2003-01-22T22:25:29Z")
Don’t think so…, Heck, I write the check out to MickeyD’s occasionally… ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/5 "2003-01-22T22:26:16Z")
Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/6 "2003-01-22T22:28:59Z")
No. McDonald’s= McD’s. McD’s= Mickey D’s. ‘Mick D’s’ just doesn’t sound good. I doubt that it originated from blacks or any particular group. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/7 "2003-01-22T22:41:44Z")
I first heard it in a McDonalds commercial. Never heard it before that. Always heard it after that, from real people and TV. I assumed that it was made up for the ad to make them sound cool, but then it got picked up by the public. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/8 "2003-01-22T22:45:07Z")
**Daniel** , when was that? I know “us kids” were calling it Mickey D’s in the mid-80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/9 "2003-01-22T22:45:19Z")
This is strange. **Brutus** ’s first sentence was what exactly what I was going to write. It never occured to me to consider it a black thing, but then again, what does an English immigrant know? 😉 CJ ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/10 "2003-01-22T22:50:18Z")
I asked because I too first remember hearing it in a McDonalds’ commercial sometime in the 80s and it was a black girl (actress) who said it. ---
**Author:** ![queen\_bee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e9c0ed/32.png) [@queen\_bee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/queen_bee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/11 "2003-01-22T23:42:05Z")
hrmmm. . . . i wouldn’t necessarily say it was a black thing just because a black actress said it. that’s a bit of a stretch for me. curious what it is about the phrase “mickey d’s” that made you think it was a black thing? My first thought was that it’s Irish 😛 bee ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/12 "2003-01-22T23:55:49Z")
I thought Mickey D’s was a college thing, ‘cuz that’s when I first heard it. Along with "goin’ to the BK Lounge", when going for grub at the Burger King… ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/13 "2003-01-23T00:13:49Z")
I’m an old, Jewish, white guy living in the rural West and I have been saying it for at least 20 years near as I can remember. So, I guess the answer to the OP is, “probably not”. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/14 "2003-01-23T00:56:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BF \* > \*\*I thought Mickey D’s was a college thing, ‘cuz that’s when I first heard it. Along with "goin’ to the BK Lounge", when going for grub at the Burger King… \*\* I’d have to second that, my friends in college who were from Canada also called it Don Don’s. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/15 "2003-01-23T01:28:21Z")
I often call it “Mickey D’s,” colloquially, and I was white the last time I looked. Don’t remember where I first heard the phrase. Maybe a commercial? ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58f4c7/32.png) [@Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Barber_s_Underwear)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/16 "2003-01-23T01:30:18Z")
This is irrelevant, but I think that it is an Australian (and possibly NZ - they’re always hanging on our coattails) thing to call McDonald’s “Macca’s”. - Bubba. ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/17 "2003-01-23T01:31:11Z")
First time I ever hear anyone call MacDonalds MickeyDs was from a whiteboy from chicago. I dont think its a black thing… It might have been started by blacks but theyre cool like that. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/18 "2003-01-23T01:48:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m an old, Jewish, white guy living in the rural West and I have been saying it for at least 20 years near as I can remember. _TV Time_ My dad is an old, Protestant, white guy from northern California and he’s also been saying it for at least 20 years. I say it too, and I got it from him. I just asked him and he reckons he probably got it from somebody at work. He worked at a Masonite factory in Ukiah and, while there were surely a few black folks working there, there certainly weren’t so very many that it’s likely that some black slang jumped to my white dad. Jess ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/19 "2003-01-23T05:48:32Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Off to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![mmjewett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mmjewett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmjewett)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299/20 "2003-01-23T05:58:52Z")
Started from a guy nammed Jimmy, from downtown Chicago. Circa 1982. Walked out his front door and shouted to his buddy “Let’s go to Mickey D’s!”. I guess the he was just bored. The name stuck. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-calling-mcdonalds-mickey-ds-a-black-thing/150299.md?page=2)