Amos and Andy & Holy Mackerel

[Wilson Gray]

On Aug 16, 2004, at 3:04 AM, Daniel Cassidy wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Daniel Cassidy <DanCas1 at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Amos and Andy & Holy Mackerel
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Andy       : Yes, ah has! Ah done it lotsa times!
>
> "Holih mackle, dae-uh, brothuh Andih!"
>
> Holih-Mackle is the phonetic "rendering" (in what appears to be a
> phoney
> African-American dialect) of the real Irish-American Dialect
> exclamation
> Holy Mackerel.
>
> Holy mackerel's real Irish orthography is also easy for non-Irish
> literate
> eyes to "see," except for the aspirated "f" of fuil, meaning "lineage"
> or
> "blood."
>
> Holy mackerel !
> Oille mac ri/ogh-fhuil ! (the "f" is  silent; pron. h-olly mac
> reo-uill)
> Great Royal Blooded Son !
>
> Oille: Great, Noble.
> Mac :Son
> Ri/ogh : Royal  (the / indicates the diacritical)
> fuil : "blood," lineage, tribe, "race'  (the "f" of fhuil is not pron.)
>
> Holy Gee
> Oille Dia   (pron. holly djee; slender "d" = "j")
> Great God.
>
> "Hully Gee" was the famous comic character The Yellow Kid's motto in
> the
> comics.
>
> Holy Mackerel is as Irish-American as Mackerelville in the East 20s of
> old
> NYC. It was a saol lom (slum) that gave birth to Tammany Boss Dick
> Croker's
> feared Mackerel Gang of the 1870s and 80s.
>
>
>
> Daniel Cassidy
> Professor of Irish Studies
> New College of California
> San Francisco
> irishstudies at newcollege.edu
>

Amos and Andy were members of a  "lodge," in the sense of "a unit of a
fraternal organization." This fraternal organization had the name,
"Mystic Knights of the Sea." The use of "Holy Mackerel" as one of the
program's major catch-phrases was a pun referencing the name of the
fraternal organization, whose founder and head bore the title of
"Kingfish." Over the course of time, the Kingfish became a more
important character than Amos, who was pretty much relegated to the
status of a kind of guest star who made only cameo appearances.

-Wilson Gray