Plastic Paddy is a slang expression for the cultural appropriation evidenced by unconvincing or obviously non-native Irishness. The phrase has been used as a positive reinforcement and as a derogatory term in various situations, particularly in London but also within Ireland itself. The term has sometimes been applied to people who may misappropriate or misrepresent stereotypical aspects of Irish customs. In this sense, the plastic Paddy may know little of actual Irish culture, but nevertheless assert an Irish identity. In other contexts, the term has been applied to members of the Irish diaspora who have distanced themselves from perceived stereotypes and, in the 1980s, the phrase was used to describe Irish people who had emigrated to England and were seeking assimilation into English culture. Usage The name Paddy is a diminutive form of the Irish name Patrick (Pádraic, Pádraig, Páraic) and, depending on context, can be used either as an affectionate or a pejorative reference to an Irishman. The term "plastic Paddy" came into use in the 1980s when it was frequently employed as a term of abuse by recently arrived middle-class Irish migrants to London. Hickman states: it 'became a means of distancing themselves from established Irish communities.' And the use was a part of the process by which the second-generation Irish are positioned as inauthentic within the two identities, of Englishness and Irishness. People who were not born in Ireland and/or did not grow up in Ireland, but nonetheless possess Irish citizenship (either through descent, marriage, or residence) are sometimes labelled "plastic Paddies" by members of Irish communities. The term can have a different connotation depending on where it is used. Ireland Within Ireland, "plastic Paddy" may refer to someone who misrepresents the Irish culture by enacting ethnic stereotypes that portray an inaccurate, outdated and offensive image of Ireland and Irish culture. This is often seen in non-Irish citizens who have a romantic or noble savage image of "the Irish Race" and those who enact stereotypes to appeal to tourists. This naming is a critical reaction to, and defiance of, the demeaning, inaccurate depictions of the Irish at celebrations that originated in the Irish diaspora, as well as the commercialisation and distortion of St. Patrick's Day. The Killarney Active Retirement Association displayed a banner promising to "Chase the plastic Paddy out of Ireland" in the Kerry 2005 St Patrick's Day celebrations, and Irish journalists have used the term