Talk:The Real McCoy
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I agree with HughMor. I clearly recall from a Black history course at Rutgers University that the term "the real McCoy" originated from and refers to Elijah McCoy's lubricating device. -- ClaudetteRR 4/1/08
For a phrase rather than a film title, I think capitalization should be changed and this article moved to "The real McCoy". Thoughts, objections? -- Infrogmation 19:47, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- FWIW, I agree. -- Quuxplusone 06:52, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I heard from a history teacher that this phrase referred to Elijah McCoy and his machine lubricating device. -HughMor
I had confused this page with a disambiguation page. I doubt that the British sketch show was a source of the phrase. Remove it if you like. --Billpg 18:15, 20 August 2005 (UTC)
For 'street' language it is quite possible, that originally the idiom borned due to MAcao, then ironically applied to Kid McCoy, and at last his fame overcome the origin and everyone forgot of Macao. So it might be a number of scenarios is true at the same time.
Us McCoy's are actually descendents of the MacKay's (Scotland) before we immigrated to Ireland and had our name Anglicized to MacCoy or McCoy. When we immigrated to the US because of the potato famines and of course many of us moved to the hills of Kentucky and West Virginia, I'm sure the term moved with us, giving credence to all the sources, at least as carrying the phrase on. With the MacKay one being the earliest, which I'd never heard of, I'd say the prize should go to it for origins, but to the others for keeping it going. Many phrases don't stand the test of time and need some of this kind of help. J. McCoy, 8-12-06
Hammermill Papers ran an ad in the 90’s: "The Real McCoy Wasn’t." I have a copy of this ad if anyone is interested. According to the Hammermill ad, Norman Selby left the farm in Indiana around 1890. A year later, he surface in the ring as Kid McCoy. The Kid was something. He said he’d fight anyone, anywhere, and he did. For years he averaged a fight a month, winning most by knockouts.
A hose of imitation Kid McCoys soon cropped up. But on March 24, 1899, any confusion ended for good. The Kid, in a titanic slugfest that cost him three broken ribs, finished off the legendary Joe Choynski in the 20th round.
The San Francisco Examiner’s boxing writer proclaimed, “NOW YOU’VE SEEN THE REAL McCOY!”
From that time on, the real McCoy implies the genuine article or in Coke language, “The real Thing.” jrfish 6-16-07
The real McCoy is about Elijah McCoy Greroja (talk) 16:02, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] "the real Mackay"?
"In Scotland the reference is always the real MacKay (with the ay pronounced as i).. In Ireland this changed to McCoy. The Irish MacKays, McCoys and Magees originated in Scotland, crossing to the Ulster Plantations in the 17th century."
Does anyone have a reference for this? Looking at the Origins section, this might have been the case, but I've never heard it used that way in Scotland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.11.50.56 (talk) 13:50, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] NLCast
"the username of someone on the NLCast forums, who guest hosted in episode 60."
This is confusing. What is NLCast? http://nobodyslistening.net/feed/?http://nobodyslistening.net/feed/?
It sounds like it's talking about a internet forums. If so, this stands out as probibly false. I'm fairly certain this term is older than the internet (All other possible origins are Pre-internet. and it would be fairly easy to confirm if it was pre-internet. ) (Foolster41) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.183.183.7 (talk) 07:44, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
I see someone added more information saying it's the name of "caleb". Who "Caleb" is not known. I'm just removing the line since I'm about 80% certain that this phrase predates the internet. (Foolster41) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.183.183.7 (talk) 07:35, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Heh. Never mind. Someone beat me to it just now. Thanks. (Foolster41)
I think that this NLCast business might just have some truth to it —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.210.142.6 (talk) 21:45, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
