The word is usually used nowadays to describe dubious goings on or to illustrate that persons of disrepute are up to no good. The actual origins of the word Shenanigan are not as well known though and to set the record straight here is the explanation as to how all these shenanigans came into being.
In the early 1800’s a wealthy British Lord named Herbert Dacy was the principle land-owner in the wealthy province of Dunshannin in East County Cork situated in the south west of Ireland. The farming community of the region was at once indebted to the Lord for bringing prosperity to their region whilst maintaining a sense of wariness of the increased English military presence that his foothold in the community generated. Being a military man Lord Dacy was heavily invested in supporting the English Crown and this certainly didn’t sit well with some of the more nationalist families of the area of which there were two main clans. The first of these clans being the ‘O’Meady’s’ who although disapproving of the Lord’s presence were nothing if not sly, developing a distrustful but financially beneficial tie with the Lord. Farmers in image but smugglers at heart, they continued an ancient tradition of trading stolen goods with the English Mainland whilst the Lord turned a blind eye. He in turn using the ‘O’Meady’ workers to farm the crops of the many hundreds of acres he governed.
The second family, the ‘Shenanigan’ clan were however both distrustful and riotous in nature. Refusing to acknowledge the Lords power they continually renounced the English Church and Monarchy. Civil disobedience was something they encouraged. They also competed directly with the Lord with the many hundreds of acres of arable land that they themselves owned, having refused to sell to the English. In 1812 all of the quarrels and fights were once again brought to the attention of the Lord and it was decided that they should try to work out a truce of some kind by holding an extravagant dinner party inviting the most powerful families of the area. The date was set August 7th, 1812 the invitations messengered out to the respective families and preparations made. The day of the festivities came and the ‘Shenanigans’ decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to make a fool of the Lord and the British aristocracy that he represented by donning themselves up in fanciful royal attire mocking the English royalty and upper-class. Ludicrously bleached white haired wigs, big-buttoned red jackets and effete use of snuff boxes and ladies fans they attended the festivities mocking and deriding at every opportunity everything the Lord stood for.
The Lord glared for many hours before putting an end to the disastrous party announcing from the balcony of his manor estate in a loud angry voice – ‘We’ll have no Shenanigans here!’ and with that the Shenanigans were ushered out of the mansion and ever since that time their name has been synonymous with dodgy deals and unscrupulous behavior.
PS: None of the above is true.
