# What is the origin of the term "paddy wagon"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979 "2004-02-07T11:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![3Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/4af34b/32.png) [@3Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3Much)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/1 "2004-02-07T11:44:20Z")
I saw one just a couple of hours ago (from the outside only, thank-you-very-much), and it occured to me that the name could be derived from the ethnic slur “paddy”, used as an insult towards the Irish. Anyone know for sure? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/2 "2004-02-07T14:58:49Z")
I wasn’t aware that Paddy was an ethnic slur. As far as I know, Paddy is a [common diminutive name for Patrick](http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/iri3.html), and is widely used in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/3 "2004-02-07T15:14:06Z")
The Word Detective, who Cecil often cites as The Authority on these things, has a take: [http://www.word-detective.com/back-s.html#paddy](http://www.word-detective.com/back-s.html#paddy) Basically it is unclearwhether the Irish in question are riding or being put in the wagon. _BTW fearitself, you know I like you but: he also notes that Paddy was often an "uncomplimentary’ term in the U.S. & Britian._ ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/4 "2004-02-07T15:29:33Z")
I could be wrong, but I thought this was a no-brainer: You go to cities like Bawstin or Noo Yawk, and it’s almost a cliche to get arrested by Sgt. O’Malley or Fitzpatrick. Irish Americans have traditionally been highly represented in the police forces of major East Coast cities. Back in the day, after Captain McGrath clubbed you over the head with a nightstick for drunken disorderly, he shoved you in, what else, the Paddy Wagon! Originally this was a horse-drawn wagon with bars and whatnot, and later moterized versions were used, just as they are today, for transporting some number of officers of the law to, and hauling away criminal suspects from, the scene. Since “Paddies” (not a term I would use in casual conversation around the Irish, as it is considered a derogatory epithet, at least in some contexts) were often driving these wagons around, it’s not a great leap that they came to be know as Paddy Wagons. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/5 "2004-02-07T15:32:16Z")
I’m no expert but I always assumed it had to do with the fact that the police forces in the US (esp. East Coast) have a large Irish population. These “paddys” (definitely used as a slur) would bring in the wagons and load up the gangs from time to time. Don’t want to start a ethnic war but the Irish and the Italian have a history of…well let’s just say they just didn’t get along too well. Gonna do a little research on this. Watched the “The Gangs of New York” recently, so I may have some lingering brainfart as a result. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/6 "2004-02-07T19:31:20Z")
_The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins_ says that the Irish were the ones being impounded in the paddy wagon, not (necessarily) the ones driving it. It explains that politicians employed the paddy wagon when they wanted to make a demonstration of law and order, and the Irish, being of low social stature, were usually the first ones to get dragged off. I read some time ago (sorry, no cite) that the paddy wagon was called such because it made the rounds of the bars and saloons every so often to pick up the passed-out drunks, who were stereotypically Irish. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/7 "2004-02-08T01:33:44Z")
There’s no doubt that “paddy” wagon refers to the Irish. I’ve antedated the phrase to 1914, in a Chicago paper.(No Irish there, eh? :() My reading of early cites would indicate the police were the paddies. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/8 "2004-02-08T02:21:36Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > I could be wrong, but I thought this was a no-brainer: > > You go to cities like Bawstin or Noo Yawk, and it’s almost a cliche to get arrested by Sgt. O’Malley or Fitzpatrick. Irish Americans have traditionally been highly represented in the police forces of major East Coast cities. Chicago’s pretty famous for Irish cops and firemen too, y’know. 😃 I think one of the things I miss the most about Chicago is St. Patrick’s Day. Chicagoans take St. Patrick’s Day VERY seriously! (don’t even bother with the Downtown parade, imo, the South Side Irish parade down Western Avenue is the _real_ parade. Pub Crawl!!) The Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society, Chicago Police Department perform all over the country, and are some truly talented performers (as well as talented cops) [http://www.copsinkilts.com](http://www.copsinkilts.com) ---
**Author:** ![Pop1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Pop1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pop1)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/9 "2004-02-08T03:50:42Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > I could be wrong, but I thought this was a no-brainer: > > You go to cities like Bawstin or Noo Yawk, and it’s almost a cliche to get arrested by Sgt. O’Malley or Fitzpatrick. Irish Americans have traditionally been highly represented in the police forces of major East Coast cities. > > Back in the day, after Captain McGrath clubbed you over the head with a nightstick for drunken disorderly, he shoved you in, what else, the Paddy Wagon! Originally this was a horse-drawn wagon with bars and whatnot, and later moterized versions were used, just as they are today, for transporting some number of officers of the law to, and hauling away criminal suspects from, the scene. Since “Paddies” (not a term I would use in casual conversation around the Irish, as it is considered a derogatory epithet, at least in some contexts) were often driving these wagons around, it’s not a great leap that they came to be know as Paddy Wagons. Sure, later on the Irish joined the police forces en masse. But when they first arrived, no force would have them. They were on the lowest rung of society at the time. Take the scene near the end of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles where the townsfolks are more than willing to share their town with the various ethnicities of the railway contstruction workers… except for the Irish. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/10 "2004-02-08T04:07:48Z")
Seems to me I’ve heard a large brawl referered to as a “paddy”. Wouldn’t the wagons have been used to haul away combatents en masse? ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/11 "2004-02-08T04:45:16Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > You go to cities like Bawstin or Noo Yawk, and it’s almost a cliche to get arrested by Sgt. O’Malley or Fitzpatrick. So it wasn’t just me then? Phew, that takes a lot off. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/12 "2004-02-08T08:25:00Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > Seems to me I’ve heard a large brawl referered to as a “paddy”. I’ve never heard that, but where I live in the UK what an American would term a conniption fit or hissy fit is called a paddy. ---
**Author:** ![LowerLip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/839c29/32.png) [@LowerLip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LowerLip)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/13 "2004-02-08T09:20:08Z")
Isn’t it an ox cart loaded with rice seedlings? ---
**Author:** ![Soisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Soisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soisi)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/14 "2004-02-08T15:25:31Z")
It appears that I’m mistaken but I’ve always associated “paddy” with “paddock” - like with horses at the track. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/15 "2004-02-08T16:43:01Z")
(in me best Irish/Texas drawl) Sooo, boys and girls, lads and lasses, what have we learned here today. It’s not so simple as all that, is it now? I still hold to the idea that the paddywagon is in reference to the fact that the police were mostly Irish. My reason, practically all “ethnic” groups called them paddy-wagons. But…in me quest for knowledge 🙂 I remembered something from college. In my “History of Psychology” text, there’s a chapter explaining the terrible treatment the mentally ill, chemically dependant and “homeless” were treated. Asylums full of folks who were living in deplorable conditions. Malnourished, abused, filthy etc… Now I’m talking 1700’s and later until the mid 1800’s or so. (Hell, even now I guess) but my point was… the police used to patrol the streets in the wee hours and gather up the vagrants, drunkards, insane etc. and throw them in the padded wagons and haul them off either to jail or asylums or in some cases the morgue. The wagons were fully enclosed so no one could see in or out. The walls were insulated for either protection of passenger or to muffle the sounds or even hide the stench. The floors would be straw or hay to absorb bodily fluids and changed for fresh later. Not that I know this to be related to the paddy-wagon, but it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to have evolved from padded-wagon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/16 "2004-02-08T19:43:21Z")
From the Online Etymology Dictionary: paddy (2) - “Irishman,” 1780, slang, from the pet form of the common Irish proper name Patrick. It was in use in black slang by 1946 for any “white person.” Paddy wagon is 1930, perhaps so called because many police officers were Irish. Paddywhack (1881) originally meant “an Irishman.” ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/17 "2004-02-08T20:21:08Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Paddywhack (1881) originally meant “an Irishman.” How’d the old song go? \*This old man, he \_\_\_\_\_ one He \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ on his thumb? With a nicknack Paddywhack give a dog a bone. This old man came rolling home? \* I’m sure I butchered that thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/18 "2004-02-08T20:28:32Z")
[io]Paddywhack\* for an Irishman is cited first in the OED these days from 1811. But it has little to do with the “paddy wagon.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-paddy-wagon/227979/19 "2005-03-11T14:54:22Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > There’s no doubt that “paddy” wagon refers to the Irish. > > I’ve antedated the phrase to 1914, in a Chicago paper.(No Irish there, eh? :() My reading of early cites would indicate the police were the paddies. Sorry for resurrecting a dead thread, but with St. Patty’s day coming up and all… What are these earliest references to the phrase you’ve found, **samclem**? And what is the context of it?