Paddy-wagon is attested by 1930, perhaps so called because many police officers were Irish. Paddywhack (1811) originally meant “an Irishman;” with the second element apparently added vaguely for emphasis.
It’s not clear if it’s a slur or not, or just slang for referring to an Irishman.
I think it might be closer to referring to a Scotsman as “a Scot” than anything pejorative.
Then again, you never know with the English… and it ultimately comes down to how the Irish feel about it
Here’s me finishing it in my head with a Knick knack paddy wack give a dog a bone, human man is rolling home
Just realised that old rhyme seems maybe offensive to Irish people with paddy wack, makes sense for a lot of old English nursery rhymes…
https://www.etymonline.com/word/paddy
It’s not clear if it’s a slur or not, or just slang for referring to an Irishman.
I think it might be closer to referring to a Scotsman as “a Scot” than anything pejorative.
Then again, you never know with the English… and it ultimately comes down to how the Irish feel about it
I think anything that’s slang for an ethnic group has like a 90% probability of being a slur
If it doesn’t start as one, it becomes one.