# What exactly is a "bold deceiver?" (Whisky in the Jar) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2018, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460 "2018-02-24T08:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/1 "2018-02-24T08:49:38Z")
In the song “Whisky in the Jar” the highwayman calls himself a “bold deceiver.” I’d like to know more about that term – the origin, the exact meaning, other instances of its use, etc. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/2 "2018-02-24T10:22:11Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > In the song “Whisky in the Jar” the highwayman calls himself a “bold deceiver.” I’d like to know more about that term – the origin, the exact meaning, other instances of its use, etc. Anyone know? He deceives, and he is bold. That’s about all there is to it. He’s been lying in wait for Captain Farrell, he approaches him as if he were an acquaintance, and he draws his sword and pistol and demands his money. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/3 "2018-02-24T12:00:22Z")
Whiskey. Irish spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/4 "2018-02-24T17:05:29Z")
Not sure the answer is so simple. On the version of the lyrics I read, the narrator says to Cpt Farrell, “Stand and deliver for you are my bold deceiver,”, not "…I am your bold deceiver. Not to be confused with “gay deceiver”, a rake who has his way by false promises, or in an alternate use, falsies. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/5 "2018-02-24T17:15:06Z")
Missed the edit window, but The Dubliners version of the lyrics has the narrator say “‘Stand and deliver’ for he (ie, Farrell) were a bold deceiver.” That accusation may put the meaning closer to the unscrupulous rake meaning of gay deceiver. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/6 "2018-02-26T02:49:05Z")
Bold deci-vaaaaaahh! \*cigarettes, ice cream… ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/7 "2018-02-26T03:13:12Z")
It’s “Stand and deliver for Manute Bol, 76ers” ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/8 "2018-02-26T09:47:28Z")
The Clancy Brothers sing, “Stand and Deliver - for you are a bold deceiver”. In the song, Captain Farrell is having an affair with Jenny, the Singer’s girlfriend and Jenny sets the Singer up for Captain Farrell’s revenge, replacing the gunpowder in the Singer’s guns with water and hiding his sword. So Captain Farrell is a bold deceiver of the Singer, personally, at least in the Clancy’s take on it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/9 "2018-02-26T12:54:32Z")
Bold deceiver as opposed to William Weaver, who in the song _Dixie_ was a gay deceiver? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/10 "2018-02-26T13:11:58Z")
But in the song, he takes Farrell’s money home to Jenny. So he doesn’t yet know that she’s been unfaithful to him. Or he maybe suspects it, but doesn’t know the extent of it. I always took it to simply mean that Farrell is untrustworthy and dangerous, and worth holding two weapons on (rather than, say, drawing just his pistol and using the free hand to take the money up close). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/11 "2018-03-02T17:29:04Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > In the song, Captain Farrell is having an affair with Jenny, the Singer’s girlfriend… I’ve never seen any lyrics that say that. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/12 "2018-03-02T17:34:25Z")
Okay, it’s muddled a bit by the variation “you are a bold deceiver,” but Google shows 642 results with that line vs. 5230 with “I am a bold deceiver,” so apparently the latter is quite a bit more common. But it still doesn’t make sense to me. I would expect people to say he’s a robber – that’s the main thing he does. Why would anyone even bother saying he’s a deceiver? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/13 "2018-03-02T18:18:16Z")
Funny - I must’ve played bass accompanying that song a couple hundred times, and never heard that lyric. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-bold-deceiver-whisky-in-the-jar/809460/14 "2018-03-02T19:31:49Z")
The mountain ranges change their names in different versions. And sometimes it’s Jenny and sometimes Molly.