|
"The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", ''e.g.'', "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies. ==History== The phrase "The real McCoy" may be a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay). This appeared in a poem ''Deil's Hallowe'en'' published in Glasgow and is widely accepted as the phrase's origin.〔Scottish National Dictionary〕〔2007 Oxford English Dictionary〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Deil's Hallowe'en: a poem by Young Glasgow )〕 In 1881, the expression was used in James S. Bond's ''The rise and Fall of the 'Union club"; or Boy life in Canada''. A character says, "By jingo! yes; so it will be. It's the 'real McCoy,' as Jim Hicks says. Nobody but a devil can find us there." The expression has also been associated with Elijah McCoy's oil-drip cup invention (patented in 1872).〔(), 19 February 2011. Snopes.com. Retrieved 9 June 2013〕 One theory is that railroad engineers looking to avoid inferior copies would request it by name, inquiring if a locomotive was fitted with 'the real McCoy system".〔〔 This possible origin is mentioned in Elijah McCoy's biography at the National Inventors Hall of Fame.〔(), 2002. National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved 9 June 2013〕 The original publication of this claim can be traced to an advertisement which appeared in the December 1966 issue of ''Ebony''. The ad, for Old Taylor Bourbon whiskey, ends with the tag line: "...but the most famous legacy McCoy left his country was his name."〔(''Ebony'', December 1966. p. 157. )〕 Other, less credible, sources include: *A dispute between two branches of the Scots Clan Mackay over who was rightful leader. Lord Reay headed one branch and he came to be known as the Reay Mackay which migrated to 'the real McCoy'.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=The Phrase Finder )〕 See Chiefs of Clan Mackay and Lord Reay. *Joseph McCoy (1837–1915) was mayor of Abilene, Kansas and styled himself 'the real McCoy'.〔 *A Pennsylvanian named McCoy supplied commercial grade nitroglycerine to safecrackers who deemed it superior to homemade product.〔 *The Hatfield–McCoy feud〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The real McCoy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|