Irish Bull - Origin

Origin

The derivation of "bull" in this sense is unclear. It may be related to Old French boul "fraud, deceit, trickery", Icelandic bull "nonsense", Middle English bull "falsehood", or the verb bull "befool, mock, cheat".

The Irish were supposedly peculiarly prone to such expressions due to their volubility, their taste for colourful metaphors, and their ignorance (or conversely excessive command) of the English language. Extensive use of Irish bulls are made of by American Jewish humorists, from the period when large numbers of recent Jewish immigrants from Germany or Eastern Europe were present in American cities, which suggests that a similar effect produced the term "Irish bull", which is partly contemptuous and partly homage.

However, as the Oxford Dictionary points out, the epithet "Irish" is a recent addition, the original word bull for such nonsense having been traced back at least to the early 17th century. By the late 19th century the expression Irish bull was well known, but writers were expressing reservations such as: 'But it is a cruel injustice to poor Paddy to speak of the genuine "bull" as something distinctly Irish, when countless examples of the same kind of blunder, not a whit less startling, are to be found elsewhere.' The passage continues, presenting Scottish, English and French specimens in support.