[Ads-l] Mickey D's

[Laurence Horn]

There's speculation on the web, but no clear answers.  Some, apparently, see it as having originated as a "black thing"; here are some responses to that, with no consensus:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-158179.html

I've heard it for ages but I have no idea where it came from and can't imagine using it myself.  (The nickname, that is; I have used McDonald's itself on occasion while in transit, I confess--sausage McMuffin for breakfast while traveling, jalapeño burgers, etc.  En route from point A to points B and C via Mickey D.

LH

> On Aug 1, 2015, at 6:23 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Otherwise "McDonald's," has been a minor conundrum for me, to the extent
> that the pronunciation, "Mack Donal's," could be replaced by ''Mickey D's."
> A few TV commercials shouldn't have been sufficient to motivate the change,
> IMO, despite TV's ability to destroy one of my favorite slang oppositions:
> 
> _hamburger_ "black person"
> 
> vs.
> 
> _cheeseburger_ "white person,"
> 
> based upon what was once a clear distinction in trash-food tastes, now
> relevant only for us old heads.
> 
> Older and/or hipper correspondents are, no doubt, familiar with the name,
> Mickey "Guitar" Baker of the '50's R&B duo, Mickey & Sylvia, who had the
> so-called "cross-over" hit, "Love Is Strange."
> 
> The late Mr. Baker' was born "McHouston Baker," in 1925.
> 
> Clearly, it's not necessarily that case that "Mc[Name]" will become "Mac(k)
> (Name)" and it's not even a new development.
> 
> Youneverknow.
> 
> Goodbye, Johnny McBrown [Mack Brown] and Jimmy Mack Cracklin. [McCracklin]
> of my lost youth! <sigh!>
> 
> Of course, given that nothing about language is totally straightforward, I
> wouldn't be surprised to discover that Richard and Maurice McDonald,
> founders of McDonald's, referred to as "Richard and Maurice Mac(k) Donald,"
> were I to get into a discussion of the founder, in the wild.
> -- 
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
> 
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