Taffy n.
a Welshman or a nickname for a Welshman.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ballad in (1969) 166: And efery tay wasse make kreat pye, Tafee, Tafee. / Pee Cott, wasse true, wasse tell no lye, Cusson Tafee. | |
| ‘The Welsh’ Rump Poems and Songs (1662) I 241: Taffy was once a Cottamighty of Wales. | |
| The Welch Traveller line 26: For want of better wit, Poor Taffie fell immediately into a great deep pit. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Bog Witticisms ii: Teage and his Country-men have clearly Baffled Saint Taffy. | |
 | King Williams Blessed Deliverance 1: Ap Taffy, ap Shinkin, ap Morgan. | |
| [chapbook title] Pleasant Hist. of Taffy’s Progress to London; with the Welshman’s Catechism. | |
| in Pills to Purge Melancholy V 7: Welch Taffy he raves and crys Splutterdenails [i.e. blood and nails]. | |
| Tommy Thumb’s Songbook II 27: Taffy was born / On a Moon Shiny Night, / His Head in a Pipkin, / His Heels upright. | |
| ‘A Description of Various Clubs’ Coll. Works (1966) III 9: This succeeded a Welch dialogue, with the humours of Teague and Taffy. | |
| Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 500: A little grey horse [...] which taffy’s son / Had ta’en a trip from Wales upon. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Political Balance’ in Prescott & Sanders Intro. to Amer. Poetry (1932) 83: Why, these are the Welch, and the country is Wales! [...] When Taffy is vexed, no devil is ruder. | |
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: Taffy, i.e. Davy. A general name for a Welchman, St. David being the tutelar saint of Wales […]. | |
| ‘Valiant Welshman’ in I (1975) 272: Then Taffy pull’d out his wooden sword. | |
| Diary (1893) I 24 Aug. 38: The incessant roar of the herd of swine and the everlasting clack of the Taffys. | |
| Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 398: He was a little, stubborn, never-forgiving Welshman [...] seeing me completely in his power, Taffy seemed quite aware of his advantages. | |
| Comic Almanack Mar. 129: Taffy’s Anniversary [title]. | |
| Sinks of London Laid Open 76: Taffy’s lump of a body was picked up, for his soul seemed as if it had taken its flight to Davy Jones. | |
| , | | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dundee, Perth & Cupar Advertiser 29 Apr. 8/5: Taffy Controlling the Planets. At Bristol Police Court [...] a dirty-looking man calling himself a Welshman was charged with obtaining money by pretending to tell fortunes. | |
| Sheffield Indep. 13 Mar. 3/7: [headline] Taffy’s Defence and Its Logic. | |
| Western Avernus (1924) 165: There was a [...] Welshman whom we all called Taffy. | |
| ‘The Welshman in London’ Dagonet Ditties 128: The bard has gone back to his mountain in Wales / With his national vanity dragged through the mud, / And his faith rudely shaken in Taffy-told tales / Of the ancient and fortified City of Lud. | |
| Sporting Times 17 Feb. 2/5: Now then, you Taffies, buck up and kill the fatted leek. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘Over There’ with the Australians 239: In an opposite bed was a Welshman with one leg who of necessity answered to the name of ‘Taffy.’. | |
| London Town 129: T.W.H. Crosland, known [...] for his polemical journalism and his books, ‘The Unspeakable Scot,’ ‘Taffy was a Welshman.’. | |
| Dundee Courier 27 Nov. 11/3: Taffy’s Talented — A trio of Welsh stars. | |
| (con. 1830s–60s) All That Swagger 212: A lone fossicker known as Taffy. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Gunner Inglorious (1974) 170: ‘Me too, Taffy,’ said Ted. Ted was a Welshman too. | |
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 97: Paddy or Taffy or Jock is all bleedin’ one to me. | |
| (con. 1948–52) Virgin Soldiers 84: That half-wit Taffy [...] singing about Wales and all that crap. | |
| (con. WWII) Soldier Erect 86: Di Jones [...] was sitting drinking char with another Welshman from 1 Platoon, Taffy Evans. | |
| 1985 (1980) 174: Sit down, Taffy boy. | |
| (con. WW2) Heart of Oak [ebook] The collector had called me ‘Taffy’— an English attempt at the Welsh pronunciation of ‘David’ (‘ Daffyd ’). | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 280: Other generics include: [...] Taffy, a Welshman. | |
| ‘Vilja de Tanquay Exults’ in Queer Street 293: A big thing too / One that must have given no end of relief / To yanks and tommies, paddies, taffys and jocks. | |
| Killing Pool 105: The Taffy bridles at being called ‘officer’. |
In compounds
Wales, thus Taffylander, a native or inhabitant of Wales.
| Caledonian Mercury 10 Apr. 3/6: ‘Travelling in Taffyland’ is a pleasant sketch. | |
| Era (London) 29 Nov. 4/4: The affair consequently excites a good deal of interest in this ever speculating district of Taffyland. | |
| N. Wales Chron. 23 Mar. 8/4: [advert] The John Bull [...] A High Class Conservative Journal [...] ‘Taffyland,’ a series of Letters by Knapsack. | |
| ‘Career of a Scapegrace’ in Leicester Chron. 10 May 12/1: He proposed that they should turn back into England, as they had had enough of Taffyland. | |
| Bury & Norwich Post 1 Jan. 5/3: They set to work in Taffyland and stirred up strife. | |
| Detroit Free Press (MI) 27 Oct. 28/1: It was the wish of their pastor [...] that they should not forget the language that was to him the most musical [...] of Taffyland. | |
| Scranton Republic (PA) 18 Sept. 3/3: The first to bring over Welsh terriers [...] the dog of taffyland. | |
| Anaconda Standard (MT) 4 Apr. 11/1: It is very evident that the excitement has reached Taffyland. | |
| Queen (London) 27 July 51/3: Double Acrostics — Full Score [...] Spero, Taffylander, Wog. | |
| Montrose, Arbroath & Brechin Rev. 10 Jan. 2: He went to his home [...] a place in Taffyland . A great crowd [...] cried to him, ‘Come now and give us some chin music, oh wonderful Taffylander’. | |
| Freeman’s Jrnl 27 May 8/2: Taffyland was fourth. | |
| Montrose Rev. 28 Oct. 2/2: The brave Macdonalds [...] would have made Taffylanders run for their lives. | |
| Tramp-Royal on the Toby 100: I sat there within the planting meditating on my adventures in Taffyland. |
St David’s Day.
| ‘A Medley’ in Merry Drollery Compleat (1875) 140: We’ll [...] make the Welch Harp to play / Till Mauris ap Shinkin ap Morgan frisk on St. Taffie’s day. | |
| Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 159: Such a Figure, which was wont to be hung up for a Show on St. Taffy’s Day. | |
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: […] Taffy’s day; the first of March, St. David’s day. | |
| (con. 1900s) Old Soldier Sahib (1965) 79: Taffy Day, as we called St. David’s Day. |