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(Vice President Joe Biden called U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s charges a bunch of “malarkey” during the Oct. 11 vice-presidential debate. I delved into the origins of the word and here is what I found.)
The word “malarkey” came into use in the United States sometime during the 1920s. Contrary to popular belief, the word is not Irish in origin, but American. It seems there was an out-of-work South Philadelphian by the name of Seamus Malarkey, a normally patient man who did not use profanity or take the Lord’s name in vain. He was a very independent sort, a Catholic who voted for Herbert C. Hoover in ’28 over Al Smith, much to the dismay of his Catholic friends and family.
“I vote for the man, not the religion,” Malarkey, whose friends had taken to calling him “doofus” instead of Seamus, said. When the stock market crashed in ’29, Malarkey lost his job and then his patience.
He became a man obsessed in his dislike of Hoover. When Hoover ran for re-election against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Malarkey became famous as the man who, at every Hoover appearance, shouted “b——t” (the South Philly version of cow chips). When he went to confession, Malarkey confessed using profanity at the mere mention of Hoover’s name. The priest suggested Seamus substitute another word in place of the BS word. Malarkey came up with the idea of using his own name and thereafter his surname became an acceptable substitute for “b——t.”
In today’s coarse times, people casually use profanity, even in front of ladies. The word “malarkey” fell into disuse, that is until the vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. Biden, an Irish-Catholic and a distant relative of Malarkey, will tell you he has been accused many times of being full of malarkey or at least the profane version of the word. Biden lost his patience during last week’s debate when Ryan fudged some facts and figures (we are not sure how the word “fudge” became a synonym for BS or malarkey because it is a perfectly respectable piece of candy).
I forget which Ryan untruth got Biden so upset (the whiteness of Biden’s teeth caused me to leave the room and search for my sunglasses). It might have been when Ryan claimed his voucher plan would “save” Medicare. I wondered if the plan were so good, why did they keep reminding seniors 55 and older they shouldn’t worry because it won’t apply to them? Maybe it was when Ryan turned his baby blue eyes directly toward the TV camera and said they could cut taxes by 20 percent across the board and pay for it by closing loopholes for the wealthy (A Pinocchio moment if ever there was one as I could swear Ryan’s nose perceptibly grew by at least a quarter inch after that statement).
Biden cheerfully called Ryan’s words a bunch of malarkey. A YouTube video appeared on the Internet 20 minutes later showing the South Philadelphia descendants of Malarkey standing and cheering at Biden’s use of the family name.
There were lots of moments when the use of “malarkey” would have been appropriate after Ryan spoke. For instance, Ryan’s extra long pause when asked if American women desiring a legal abortion had anything to fear if he and Romney took office. I think Ryan needed the pause to remember the various abortion positions Mitt has taken in just the last two weeks. Another such moment came when Ryan tried to answer why, if he were against government subsidies, he pleaded for some government cash on behalf of some Wisconsin businessmen. Or the times he helped George W. Bush increase the deficit by voting for waging two wars or for expanding the Medicare prescription drug program, without paying for any of it. More malarkey!
At the outset of the debate, Ryan scored on the administration screw-up in Benghazi and could have charged Biden with using a bit of malarkey to explain it away. But alas, it became evident deeper into the debate that Ryan’s strong suit is not foreign policy. He couldn’t figure out what a Romney administration would do differently from Obama in any of the world’s trouble spots. Ryan just kept repeating that Obama apologizes too much. But when the pesky moderator Martha Raddatz asked if he would apologize for American troops in Afghanistan burning the Koran or peeing on Afghan corpses, Ryan indignantly replied, “Of course, that’s wrong.” Oops, apology! Ryan was so in over his head, I expected him to claim he could see Russia from the window at his gym. Oh Sarah, where are you when the Republicans need you?
Conservatives claimed to have been thrilled by Ryan’s performance, but blamed Raddatz for favoring Biden. Apparently, a few years ago, the president attended Raddatz’s wedding reception (maybe he bribed her with a big wedding gift). When Obama got whipped in the first debate, liberals blamed the president. When conservatives lost the vice presidential debate, they blamed the moderator.
Malarkey.
Comment at southphillyreview.com/opinion/cardella.
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