“McKay”— “McCoy” … Let’s call the whole thing off!
Remember ironing? Some of you, like me, may still secretly love to iron. And we have the “real McCoy” to thank for that—inventor Elijah J. McCoy, our fellow Canadian who gave us (or many of us) ironing boards. Now, is that a blessing or a curse (I’m not sure). Anyway, I think I may very well have the first ironing board he invented!
And if you enjoyed running through a sprinkler when you were little, or you have children or grandchildren who love it, you can thank the real McCoy for that, too. We can also thank him for inventing a vital part for the lubrication of steam-locomotive engines.
But … wait a minute. Just a minute. There is more than one real McCoy (Will the real McCoy please stand up?).
You see, the real McCoy may have originated in the 1800s as the “real McKay,” with the MacKay whisky distillers (Cheers!).
You say “McKay,” I say “McCoy” … and a vision of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers tap-dances onstage in my head, and I can almost hear the musical number by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and, for a moment, I agree with them: “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”
Well, ummm, not so fast …
The idiom, masquerading as a metaphor (and vice versa), has enjoyed a long and fruitful life and it just refuses to die off. In fact, the idiom has attained movie-star status, among the rich and famous, and has been penned by authors the world over.
In the States, the idiom entered the boxing ring, with Charles “Kid” McCoy, and then wooed us in Cole Porter’s song “At Long Last Love.”
Since then, the real McCoy has risen to heights beyond what the MacKays could ever have imagined, appearing in dance routines and in song lyrics—stopping just short of winning an Oscar—and even making a guest appearance in the famed Star Trek.
Then, of course, there were the family-feuding Hatfields and McCoys from the backwoods of West Virginia in the U.S of A. (Imagine fighting over pork.) Just as cream rises to the top, so it was with the McCoys when it came to the “pig fight” and, subsequently, any member of the McCoy family was the “real McCoy.”
As you can see in the sampling above, real McCoys and McKays abound, and seeds of the real McCoy have been scattered far and wide, making it truly difficult to discern this idiomatic origin. But despite this and even through it all, the idiom’s meaning has not been lost and has not lost its appeal.
Bringing it home to “where we live” … If, by chance, you have procured an original work of art, which you are now proudly displaying above your mantel, then, you are in possession of the real McCoy (but remember, as Proverbs 16:18 warns, “Pride goes before a fall”).
Or, if you are one of the rich and famous and you have a stunt double, then you are the real McCoy.
And, like Elijah J. McCoy, if you have invented something and have the patent to prove it, your creative masterpiece is the real McCoy.
If, in fact, you own an authentic and original “anything,” well, you have the real McCoy.
Heck, you can even point your index finger back at yourself, right now, and proudly proclaim that you (yes, you!) are a one of a kind—the real McCoy (How’s that for authenticity?)!
Hold onto that last thought, because each of us is an original.(For this and more real McKay-McCoy wisdom, check out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_real_McCoy.
