The Real McCoy

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Mike McCoy.

Hi, Mike.

Mike McCoy, how are you doing? Where are you calling from?

I’m calling from Wachula, Florida.

Wachula, Florida? Wait a minute, isn’t that the cucumber capital of the world?

Yes, it is. How did you know that?

I lived in central Florida for a while.

Oh, okay.

So why is it the cucumber capital of the world?

I think it’s because we used to grow a lot of cucumbers.

Oh, okay. Well, that would make sense.

Well, what are you calling about today?

Well, my name is Mike McCoy, and quite often I’ve heard the phrase, the real McCoy.

Oh, boy, I bet you’ve heard it a lot.

I’ve heard it quite often, yes.

Well, you know, my real name is Grant Hatfield, right?

I’ve heard that quite often, too.

Of course you have. Predictable.

Every measure of the joke that could be made that you’ve heard, right?

That’s correct.

Oh, man, we promise not to do it anymore.

Yeah, we’re not.

So what is your question today then, Mike?

Well, I’ve heard there are a number of theories as to where the real McCoy came from, and I was wondering what you guys could find out about that.

What have you heard?

I’ve heard a few.

The one I think it might be is that there was a boxer named Kid McCoy, and I think that was around the turn of the century, and they said he was the real McCoy.

I’ve heard another one that talked about a gentleman that invented the traffic light and said that was the real McCoy.

And then there was something about a bootlegger.

Man.

I don’t really know for sure what it is.

Right.

Well, what would you say if I told you that none of those theories is the real McCoy?

Well, that’s…

Hello.

Yeah, you’re right.

The story about Kid McCoy, the boxer, is the most common one that you hear.

Although recently there’s been some etymological research to suggest that it comes from an old advertising slogan for whiskey produced in Scotland.

That’s interesting because my great-great, I don’t know which great-grandfather, came from Glasgow, Scotland.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Oh, interesting.

Did he change his spelling of his name along the way?

Well, I don’t know. I think his was McCoy, but I’ve heard Mackay might be the origin of the name McCoy.

And you spell your name capital M, lowercase c, capital C, lowercase o-y, yes?

Correct. Right.

Okay.

I’m assuming it’s pronounced McKay, Grant.

McKay and Company Distillers of Edinburgh produced a whiskey, and they used that slogan to advertise the whiskey back in the late 19th century.

The first time that you see the expression, the real McCoy in the Oxford English Dictionary, it’s from 1856, and it’s a drappy of the real McKay.

Okay.

You know, a drop of the real McKay, that whiskey.

But it appears it was floating around even before that.

And it may go back to a title of Scottish nobility.

The Dictionary of Scots language is online and freely available, and it’s a highly reputable source.

If you look up McKay, spelled M-A-C-K-A-Y, you’ll find their notes on this.

And it’s really interesting because it just blows all those other theories right out of the water.

Well, thank you for enlightening me as to where the real McCoy came from, and I’ll be able to tell others that now.

Indeed.

All right, bye-bye.

Bye, thank you.

All right. Bye-bye.

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