Talk:on the Pat and Mick

Etymology

I wonder what the rhyme comes from. Perhaps "sick": one can be "on the sick list" but I don't know about "on the sick". Pat and Mick are stereotypical Irishmen's names. Equinox ◑ 17:59, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

One can definitely be ‘on the sick’ in the U.K. It’s a pejorative term widely used in all of the trashy tabloids here to refer to people who are in receipt of benefits like DLA (Disabled Person’s Living Allowance) or formerly IB (incapacity benefit) and even made its way into the name of a BBC Panorama episode (‘Britain on the sick’). I’ve created an entry for ‘on the sick’ and will add quotes later. I agree with you that the choice of names used for the rhyming slang stems from a xenophobic assumption that the Irish are more likely to be lazy and greedy enough to make dishonest claims Overlordnat1 (talk) 02:36, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

 Done Mentioned at least as a possibility. Equinox ◑ 16:58, 22 November 2023 (UTC)