Go hálainn - Redwolf, What does this word mean? lol

And as for pissed off, I'm considering using: 'But then, I've never gotten her up to ninety." But I think maybe pissed her off sounds better?

Although I agree that the term "Top of the Morning" has become to be perceived as insulting, largely due to its overuse in stage Irish and Hollywood, I don't think it is correct to say that it was invented by the music halls.

It predates vaudeville in literature by nearly a hundred years: There is a picture of the 1796 use here

It also appears to have been fairly typical of Hiberno-English around the time of vaudeville:


The following comment on the same site as the 1796 picture above also shows some remnant usage of the English expression in Ireland:


So, yes, it has gone out of fashion, and yes, it has become stigmatised by association with Vaudeville and Hollywood, but no, they didn't make it up or invent it. It was already there.



As for the origins in Hiberno-English, there is an Irish phrase Mora na maidne dhuit still used by older speakers in the Gaeltacht that could possibly be the origin. And some sources suggest that the response Agus an chuid eile den lá dhuit féin. is/was appropriate (albeit an old woman from Cork as quoted by her grandson).

Mora dhuit or Mór dhuit is translated as "Hail" by Dinneen:


That doesn't change the fact that the phrase "top of the morning to you" has become a cliché, of course, just that some of the adverse reaction may be as much a caricature as the phrase itself.

_________________
Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).