Daniel Cassidy (1943 – October 11, 2008) was an American writer, filmmaker, musician, and academic. [1] He is known for his 2007 book How the Irish Invented Slang in which he suggests that many American slang words are of Irish origin. [1] His theories have, however, not stood up to academic scrutiny and are considered factually incorrect. [2] [3]
Cassidy grew up in Queens and on Long Island in New York. [4] He was the son of a Navy chief petty officer. [1] He graduated from New York Military Academy on a full scholarship and studied English literature and creative writing at Cornell University. [1] Cassidy worked for The New York Times as a news assistant. [1] His work appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Observer and the Atlantic Monthly. [1]
He was a professional musician, starting as a reed player, and cutting an album as a singer and composer. [1] He played Carnegie Hall, the Civic Auditorium, and The Tonight Show – performing with comedian George Carlin, Kenny Rankin, and Lilly Tomlin. [1]
Cassidy married Clare McIntyre, in 1983. [1]
In 1995, he founded and co-directed the Irish Studies program at New College of California. [1] In 2007 The magazine Irish America designated him as being among the most influential Irish Americans of the year. [1]
Cassidy died of pancreatic cancer at his home in San Francisco. [1]
In his 2007 book How the Irish Invented Slang, Cassidy maintains that many common American slang words are of Irish origin, with the word dude for example being derived from " dúid" (meaning "foolish-looking fellow") [4] and snazzy coming from "snasach" (meaning "polished, elegant"). [4] Among other hundreds of other words he mentions are jazz, poker, sucker, and scam. [1] Cassidy proposes that since Irish immigrants were a marginalized group [5] their influence on English would mainly be found in lower-status or colloquial slang expressions, [3] leading them to be overlooked by mainstream dictionaries. [3]
The book won the 2007 American Book Awards for non-fiction. [4]
His etymological theories have not stood up to academic scrutiny and are considered factually incorrect [6] and wishful thinking. [7] The book relies almost entirely on phonetic similarity, [5] finding coincidences where sound and meaning happen to look similar. [3] It did not include historical analysis. [3] [6] Among those who have criticized his theories as being completely wrong are American lexicographer Grant Barrett [6] and Irish lexicographer Terence Dolan, Professor of Old and Middle English at University College Dublin. [7]
Cassidy could speak no Irish when beginning this project. [8]