butcher's apron

English

Alternative forms

• Butcher's Apron

Etymology

The apron worn in a traditional butcher's shop often has blue and white stripes and may acquire red bloodstains in the course of the work, thus bearing a passing resemblance to the red, white, and blue design of the Union Jack. Metaphorically, the pejorative allusion is to the bloodshed blamed on British imperialism.

Used in 1914 by Irish republican socialists Jim Larkin and James Connolly.

Noun

butcher's apron (plural butcher's aprons)

1. (chiefly Ireland, derogatory) The Union Jack, as a symbol of oppressive British nationalism.
   • 1969 March 31, Fergus Pyle, “Marchers attain Derry aim”, in The Irish Times‎^[2], page 8:

     Mr Eamonn McCann, of the Derry Labour Party, said he had no objection to people waving the Union Jack in the Diamond; he had no liking for it, as he considered it as being a butcher's apron in places like Aden and Kenya and elsewhere.

   • 1986 September–October, Kathy Sinclair, “A review of recent legal decisions in Northern Ireland affecting local authorities”, in Local Government Studies, volume 12, number 5, →DOI, page 25:

     In Re McAnulty, ... the applicant was a member of the People's Democracy Party and an elected member of Belfast City Council. which is Unionist controlled. ... At a meeting of the council on 6 December 1984, he criticized the proposal to have tricolour flags removed from a leisure centre and made reference to "the Union Jack, also known as the butcher's apron". Following this remark, the Council resolved that Mr McAnulty be suspended from the council pending withdrawal of the remark.

   • 2000 February, “Question Time”, in Fortnight, number 383, →JSTOR, page 5:

     Petty nonsense over the flying of (British) flags over (British) government offices caused pointless offence to (British) unionists. That such antics were really a disguising tactic meant to mask the fact that ministers de Brun and McGuinness are operating a partitionist Stormont government with British civil servants may fool some of the more gullible Shinners, but few were around the north Down and east Belfast fortresses of Education and Health to notice the butcher's apron fluttering outside on millennium day.

   • 2013 April 17, Shane Minogue, “Letters; Question Time”, in Irish Examiner‎^[3], Cork:

     Even in the West Brit stronghold of Killiney, Dublin, if a man were to go about wearing the Union Jack on his shirt it would cause a frisson. Now try wearing the ‘Butcher’s Apron’ on a T-shirt in the West Cork rebel stronghold of Inchigeelagh and your safe passage back to wherever you came from is not guaranteed.

   • 2016 March 21, Tim Leadbeater, “Odd alignments in the flag debate [comment]”, in The Daily Blog‎^[4], New Zealand:

     What a grand ambition – rich and poor, left and right, all NZers getting together and waving a silver fern at an All Blacks match. It’s this kind of de-politicised, sports oriented, corporate logo version of Nationalism the Lockwood design represents, I don’t see anything progressive about it at all. ... tbh, if someone pointed a gun to my head and forced me to vote for one of these two crap options, I would opt for the butchers apron, at least it has genuine political and historical substance (even if bad substance)

   • 2021 July, Wrexhamian, “‘Angry’ Scotland should be more like Wales and accepts its place in the union says Scottish academic [comment]”, in Nation Cymru‎^[5]:

     That claim by Tomkins that Wales is full of butcher’s aprons flying next to Y Ddraig Goch is utter tosh, by the way.

   • 2024 August 4, Bill Cruickshank, Twitter‎^[6]:

     Starmer was on tv earlier tonight rightly condemning the rioting right-wing thugs, but he was flanked by two Butcher's Aprons.

   • 2024 August 28, Simon Price, “Stop the celebrations – Oasis are the most damaging pop-cultural force in recent British history”, in The Guardian‎^[7]:

     It's no coincidence that Oasis are the band of choice for flag-shaggers and Reform voters – it's remarkable how often their fans have the butcher's apron on their Twitter bios, just as Noel had it painted on his guitar.

Usage notes

• usually used to denote the flag in general (as opposed to a specific physical flag) and hence in the singular and with the definite article.