butcher's apron

plural butcher's aprons · alternative Butcher's Apron

1. IrelandderogatoryThe Union Jack, as a symbol of oppressive British nationalism.

   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.

   1969 March 31, Fergus Pyle, “Marchers attain Derry aim”, in The Irish Times, page 8

   5 more examples

   They went out to the car and drove for over an hour until the road came into Cookstown. ... On the front of one of the stores, an insurance agency, there was a British flag flying. Sean pointed to it. “What do they have the butcher’s apron out for?” he said.

   1973, Jimmy Breslin, World Without End, Amen, New York: Viking, →ISBN, page 284

   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.

   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

   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.

   2000 February 28, “Question Time”, in Fortnight, number 383, →JSTOR, page 5

   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.

   2013 April 17, Shane Minogue, “Letters; Question Time”, in Irish Examiner, Cork

   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)

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

plural Butcher's Aprons

1. Alternative letter-case form of butcher's apron.