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was well known, but writers were expressing reservations such as: "But it is a cruel injustice to poor Paddy to speak of the genuine 'bull' as something distinctly Irish, when countless examples of the same kind of blunder, not a whit less startling, are to be found elsewhere." The passage continues,
414:
37:, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, observed, "an Irish bull is always pregnant", i.e. with truthful meaning. The "father" of the Irish bull is often said to be Sir
41:, who once asked "Why should we put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?". Roche may have been
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213:"If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive." – Samuel Goldwyn, movie producer (1882–1974)
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for such nonsense having been traced back at least to the early 17th century. By the late 19th century the expression
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As the Oxford
English Dictionary points out, the epithet "Irish" is a more recent addition, the original word
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232:"to make an Irish bull, I should expect the next stage in Evolution not to be a stage in Evolution at all" –
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216:"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours." – Misattributed to
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Ludicrous, incongruent or logically absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author
205:"He'll regret it till his dying day, if ever he lives that long." – "Red" Will Danaher, in
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absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author. The inclusion of the epithet
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Studies in Irish history and biography, Mainly of the
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The derivation of "bull" in this sense is unclear. It may be related to
132: in this Section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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223:"There'll be people dying in this town who've never f---ing [
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444:. C. S. Lewis Signature Classic. London, England: William Collins.
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The New shorter Oxford
English dictionary on historical principles
258: – Sentences that appear to make sense but actually do not
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presenting
Scottish, English and French specimens in support.
24:
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368:
Maye, Bryan (14 February 2000). "An
Irishman's Diary".
322:, Volume 99 University of Michigan Libraries, 1992 p.18
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353:Geoghegan, Patrick M. (1999). "The union passes".
318:Rabkin, Eric S. "Taking the bull (by the horns?)"
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332:Falkiner, C. Litton (1902). "Sir Boyle Roche".
338:. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co. pp.
229:] died before" – Belfast taxi driver
357:. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 110.
494:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
471:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
403:(2nd ed.). Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co.
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130:adding citations to reliable sources
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413:Hensher, Philip (1 December 2010).
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220:, baseball player (1925–2015)
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23:is a ludicrous, incongruent or
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270: – Possible Irish lawyer
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64:"fraud, deceit, trickery",
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457:Grierson, Philip (1938).
385:Oxford English Dictionary
78:"falsehood", or the verb
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399:Brown, Marshall (1894).
264: – Figure of speech
82:"befool, mock, cheat".
390:(subscription needed).
355:The Irish Act of Union
290:Brown, Lesley (1993).
480:Kelly, H. P. (1908).
298:. Oxford: Clarendon.
252: – Verbal gaffes
35:John Pentland Mahaffy
528:Anti-Irish sentiment
482:Irish bulls and puns
387:, s.v. "bull, n. 4"
320:The Michigan Alumnus
256:Comparative illusion
126:improve this article
31:is a late addition.
440:Lewis, C. S. 2012.
401:Bulls and Blunders
442:Mere Christianity
238:Mere Christianity
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268:Obadiah Bull
250:Colemanballs
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141:"Irish bull"
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124:Please help
119:verification
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47:Mrs Malaprop
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484:. New York.
459:Irish bulls
39:Boyle Roche
507:Categories
234:C.S. Lewis
218:Yogi Berra
152:newspapers
91:Irish bull
59:Old French
45:model for
43:Sheridan's
21:Irish bull
518:Semantics
513:Word play
490:cite book
467:cite book
275:Footnotes
182:July 2023
66:Icelandic
25:logically
426:26 April
262:Oxymoron
244:See also
98:Examples
166:scholar
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53:Origin
342:–240.
236:, in
173:JSTOR
159:books
29:Irish
496:link
473:link
428:2016
300:ISBN
145:news
87:bull
80:bull
76:bull
69:bull
62:boul
340:228
226:sic
128:by
19:An
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