Shoneen
An Irishman who imitates English ways, looks down on his own country, and seeks inclusion in English society - real or imagined. Pejorative throughout its history. The word marks a specific type of social-climbing that the speaker disapproves of.
Etymology
From Irish 'Seoinín', the diminutive of 'Seán' (John, a name standing in for 'John Bull', the personification of England). 'Little Johnny' - a small imitation Englishman. The Irish form was already in use in the nineteenth century when W.B. Yeats reached for it in 'The Ballad of Father O'Hart' (1889): 'To a shoneen who had free lands / And his own snipe and trout.'
In a sentence
"He came back from Trinity a complete shoneen - wouldn't be seen dead in his own village."
Historical notes
Shoneen carries a more specific weight than its synonyms 'West Brit' or 'jackeen'. Where 'West Brit' is openly contemptuous and 'jackeen' is Dublin-specific, 'shoneen' is the older, quieter word - usable in rural speech as well as urban, and applied to anyone who has, in the speaker's estimation, taken on airs above their proper station. Joyce uses it in Ulysses (1922) - 'the shoneens that can't speak their own language' - which is closer to the modern register: someone who has gained the trappings without keeping the substance.
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry shoneen n. · dictionary
- Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (Ó Dónaill), entry Seoinín. · dictionary
- Yeats, W.B. The Ballad of Father O'Hart (1889). · academic