In the wake of the vice presidential debate, I now have several people asking me if "malarky" really is Irish for "lying sack of sh*t." Apparently it's showing up that way (well, possibly not literally) in "How the Irish Invented Slang." I know that a lot of the stuff in that book is based on speculation and not necessarily reliable. I don't have a copy...does anyone know his reasoning? Does it seem plausible? Or is it just a bunch of malarky?

Redwolf

Baldy doesn't have it but Webster's 9th gives it as unknown origin meaning insincere or foolish talk, bunkum (1929) and that's how I've always heard it used - a real load of malarkey. May not be Irish in origin but slang of that era.

Just found my copy of Cassidy's book and he doesn't give an origin for mullarkey as he calls it but says it is beguiling baloney .Always thought he was an expert at that.

I wouldn't say he was an expert (unless you mean he was an expert at bequiling baloney!). By his own admission, he didn't speak a word of Irish when he started formulating his theories...he'd been given a copy of an Irish-English dictionary, and started speculating from there. I don't know that he ever did any real, scientific, research on the topic.

My understanding of "malarky" (in terms of what I grew up hearing) is close to what you got from Webster. It sounds somewhat like an Anglicized Irish surname, but that's the only indication I see of Irish roots.

Redwolf

I think that is exactly what beagle meant.

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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).

That's my understanding of it.

Of course that's what I meant. Cassidy used to be on Daltaí's forum constantly giving his opinions of word origins and no matter who disagreed with him, he stuck to his opinion. The more opposite opinions he got, the more determined he became. The best I can say for him was he was determined

There is a discussion of the origin of the word on JSTOR, and it apparently may have a San Francisco origin. This link goes to the opening part of the discussion. If anyone is really interested, I know someone with a JSTOR subscription and could probably get the whole article and email it to you:

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1500337?uid=3739560&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101150167913

Grammarphobia also has a brief article speculating on the origin of the word:

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/a-lot-of-malarkey.html

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

In Dublin slang: a load of malarky - talking rubbish
acting malarky - being silly

I haven't ever heard acting mallarky, though I'd guess the meaning.