THE DESCRIPTION OF British Army regiment the Irish Guards as ‘The Micks’ has prompted somewhat of a backlash during the BBC’s coverage of jubilee celebrations.
The four-day weekend in the UK to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the British throne is well underway, with Irish ears twitching this morning during the ‘Trooping of the Colour’ ceremony.
The ceremony is essentially a parade of British soldiers and horses in ceremonial dress and traditionally takes place to mark the queen’s birthday.
Today’s event was being led by the Irish Guards, a regiment of the British Army that recruits in part but not exclusively from the island of Ireland.
During commentary on the event, former officer in Irish Guards Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton described the scenes as “a great Mick cocktail”.
“The Micks have this fantastic mix of guard’s discipline and pursuit of excellence with their Irish irrational tenth, if I can quote Lawrence of Arabia,” he said.
He went on to describe the Irish Guards as “the best regiment on the planet” before BBC presenter Huw Edwards asked him to elaborate on the term “Micks”.
The year is 2022… and a BBC presenter and someone from the British Army are explaining why “micks” actually isn’t an offensive term for Irish people… 🙄🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/OZpfwOmAAP
— Joe Dwyer (@JoeEDwyer) June 2, 2022
Using ‘Mick’ in reference to Irish people has long been considered derogatory, especially in places with large immigrate Irish populations such as the UK or the US.
“You said a few minutes ago Jamie that the Irish Guards were affectionately known as ‘The Micks’ and some people watching may say that’s not an altogether nice term but it’s worth underlining, that’s what you are used to call yourselves?,” Edwards said.
Lowther-Pinkerton said in response that any negative connotations to the term have “worn off”.
“It’s what we call ourselves and actually it’s been a nickname for so long that any connotations that may or may not have been have worn off,” he said.
The term itself, it is embraced by the regiment, which proclaims on its website:
“The Irish Guards – known affectionately throughout the Army as ‘The Micks’ – is an Irish Regiment which has proven its loyalty and grit on many tough operations. Its soldiers have the privilege of guarding the Royal Family. They recruit from the island of Ireland, United Kingdom and beyond.”
Despite the former officer’s explanation, the use of the term has been questioned online, with a clip of the exchange shared by London-based Sinn Féin activist Joe Dwyer being retweeted over 1,00 times and viewed over 100,00o times.
“The year is 202 and a BBC presenter and someone from the British Army are explaining why “micks” actually isn’t an offensive term for Irish people,” O’Dwyer tweeted.
Others referred to his use of “the Irish irrational tenth” as being form of stereotyping.
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