ST:TOS question

[sarren]

I just read someone's meta about how using the prefix K/Mc for Kirk/McCoy is offensive:

The problem for me, though, is that "Mc" has been used historically in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere as an ethnic slur against Irish people, which McCoy is.*

Obviously as my name does not begin with Mc or Mac, I can't have an opinion on this but the part I'm fixated on is, I'm pretty certain that McCoy's not Irish. He has a Southern US drawl and I remember he talks about mint juleps in at least one TOS episode, but that's all I remember. And now I really want to know.

Does anyone remember any specific episode where McCoy refers to where he's from, or am I going to have to watch the whole damn show again?

Edit: I'm going with Georgia, like DeForest Kelley, the actor who played him (first).


*For the record, I copied and pasted that line, I wasn't paraphrasing to make a point - the author of the post has since edited it to read differently.

Comments

[caitlen.livejournal.com]

I had never ever heard of the "ethic slur", but as scotsnow started to explain it to me, I totally get it. irishman = a "Mic" (obviously a "Mc") or as I said, a "Miccy". So then I had a whole "Oooohhh I get it" moment.

Still don't think it impact on McCoy as a character, as I don't think that he's Irish. He went to the Uni of Mississippi for example, so reckon he's supposed to be from the South. And I don't think that referring to the pairing as K/Mc (which I'm really liking with the Reboot) is offensive however.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Ha, his uni doesn't mean anything, I bet in the future he could commute from PERTH if he wanted to.

The actor's from Georgia.

He's supposed to be a good ol' Southern boy, I was just wondering if they ever mentioned the state, like Kirk's from Iowa.

[caitlen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I only got the "Uni of Miss" part, couldn't find anything about where he was from. Think that was important with Kirk, and obviously everyone else, but it doesn't fit right that they'd have someone else from the British Isles, with Scotty playing such a big role in that way. I reckon he's from the South somewhere - I get that feeling.

[cricketk.livejournal.com]

K/Mc just looks weird to me. Obviously the Mc is supposed to come first!

[sarren.livejournal.com]

OMG YOU JUST OFFENDED THE INTERNET.

[tienriu.livejournal.com]

Maybe they meant Irish ethnically rather than geographically?

I know that quite a few people I met in the US refered to themselves as hyphened-American (i.e. 'Irish American', 'Italian American' etc) so that this might be an issue might make sense from an ethnic background viewpoint?

[sarren.livejournal.com]

I'm sure she did. There's actually been some interesting discussion since I linked to it.

I really just feel a burning need to establish where McCoy is actually from. Wiki says he went to the University of Mississippi, but this is the future, he could probably commute from Perth if he wanted to. The actor's from Georgia. I am horribly afraid I am going to have to watch 'Man Trap' and 'For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky' again - they're the two most McCoy-centric eps I can think of off hand and I'm not overly keen on either of them. *sigh* My life, so hard.

[tienriu.livejournal.com]

LOL. At the moment I'm unemployed and STILL trying to avoid seeing the Star Trek movie because getting sucked into a new fandom (especially one with how many decades worth of series to watch?!) will only make my lethargy over finishing those selection criteria (criterias? criterii? criteripods? augh) even worse.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

It's simple. Write your selection criterias so you can go see the film!!! My housemate would have vacillated over her assignment for days if it hadn't of meant missing out on going with a group of friends.

Seriously, you have to see it on the big screen.

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

Looks like extremely ludicrous political correctness overload. What a wanker.

[psycho-tabby.livejournal.com]

Well my first reaction to reading your post is .....Whoooooo Some people take some things wayyyyyy to seriously.

Even after reading the very calmly stated meta I'm thinking its probably a mountain out of a molehill and I really am surprised that I'm still shocked at the things people decide to take offence too.

In regards to your post. I'd have no idea if he was Irish, I really don't know any cannon besides the movie, I would assume that somewhere back his heritage he would be.

I suppose the only associations I have with Irish are positive (what with nice alcomaholic beverages and accents that can literally make me melt) I would never even think for a second that to identify a charter as Irish would be a bad thing.

(I'm ignoring the whole Mc is the insult issue (not Irishness in general) which I just never knew)

[sarren.livejournal.com]

I quite like Irish people too - my Mum was Irish. If I was American I'd be an Irish-American.

But I'm not, I'm Australian, we don't historically have a culture of retaining strong links to the Old Country.

[ravenclaw-harpy.livejournal.com]

Try watching Shore Leave, which shouldn't be a hardship. I'm sure that is where the Mint Julep (sp?) thing came up. There might be more.

Even if not, you can check out Reboot Kirk vs Finnegan Kirk. And the artfully ripped shirt!

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Reboot Kirk vs Finnegan Kirk.

Whut?

[ravenclaw-harpy.livejournal.com]

In Reboot, it is a "fisticuffs" Jim Kirk & doesn't Jim fight Finnegan from the Academy in Shore Leave? So, similar but different Jim Kirks. Are their fighting styles the same?

You mentioned how Reboot Spock hit Kirk the same way as TOS Spock did. Is it the same for Kirk?

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Huh, not as much as I'd assumed. I may have mislead you.