Where did the saying the real McCoy come from?

Answer 1

The saying "Real McCoy" came from a famous inventor named Elijah McCoy when he invented a automatic lubricator for trains so when people wanted his invention they asked for the "Real McCoy".

NOT TRUE

Answer 2

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

Answer 3

"The real McCoy" is an idiom used throughout much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article" e.g., "he's the real McCoy". It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o' the real MacKay," (A drop of the real MacKay), and this is widely accepted as the origin.

How it came to be "McCoy" is unclear - it is first recorded in this form in the US in 1908 - and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. (Idioms) For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section (Answers.com) indicated directly below this answer section.

Answer 4

from Snopes.com:

There are a number of competing theories as to who or what was "the real McCoy":

• Elijah McCoy, inventor of a device that lubricated the moving parts of a railway locomotive, or his invention itself.
• Someone from the Hatfield-McCoy family feud of the 1880s.
• Products of the Nelson McCoy Pottery company in Ohio.
• Booze supplied by Prohibition-era rum-runner named Bill McCoy, whose product was said to always be of the highest quality.
• Joseph G. McCoy, the cattleman who laid out the Chisholm Trail.
• A Pennsylvania wildcatter of the name of McCoy who diverted nitroglycerin from job sites to safecrackers, who in turn dubbed the explosives he supplied "the real McCoy" (to distinguish them from the homemade less reliable concoctions they sometimes used).
• Mrs. McCoy of a 19th century Irish Ballad wherein she thrashes her husband, thereby proving herself "the real McCoy."
• The products of a British pharmaceutical company that were much in demand by addicts in the U.S. after passage of the Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914, with the appellation spreading to any commercially produced drug product (to differentiate it from blackmarket drugs of dubious origin).
• Arising from rivalry among branches of the Mackay clan in Scotland as to which was the most valid, with the name of one clan's leader (Reay Mackay) over time morphing into "real McCoy."
• A corruption of "the real Macao," slang for pure heroin, the best of which supposedly came from Macao.
• A corruption of "the real McKay," a slogan used to advertise the products of whisky distillers A & M McKay of Glasgow.
• American welterweight champion Norman Selby, known as Kid McCoy.

The saying's recorded history is murky, but while there is no indisputable origin for the term, one theory (which actually combines two of the above elements) does stand far above the rest.

While the earliest verified print sighting of "the real McCoy" dates to 1908, the first surfacing of the phrase it likely stemmed from was noted in 1856: "A drappie o' the real McKay," referring to a brand of whisky produced in Scotland. Said brand of hooch subsequently came to be advertised under the slogan "the real McKay" in 1870, thereby exposing an even greater number of Scots to its existence.

Over time, other sightings into which misspellings had crept were noted:

• 1865: The ceremony being concluded, Bacchus was worshipped to a most satisfactory extent - the supply of "the real MacKay" being unlimited - capital in quality, and accompanied with tempting viands.
• 1908: I took a good-size snort out of that big bottle [of furniture polish] in the middle.... Have you none of the clear McCoy handy around the house?(The item being described as "McCoy" in this sighting was whisky.)
• 1934: There's something very attractive about the real McKie when you meet it.

These two points (misspellings creeping in plus the first McCoy sighting being about whisky) somewhat work to support the theory that the Scottish advertising slogan "the real McKay" became a tad garbled as it crossed the ocean into the U.S.

Yet however it got there, once it had arrived in the new land, it subsequently came to be associated with a boxer of some fame, thereby greatly increasing its spread.

Norman Selby, better known as Kid McCoy, was the American welterweight champion in 1896. It is not known how he came by the Kid McCoy handle, he did fight under it. An apocryphal tale ties Norman Selby to the origin of "the real McCoy." By its lights, he encountered a drunk in a bar who was skeptical of his claims to be the great fighter Kid McCoy. The boxer settled all doubt with one punch that flattened the sot. Upon regaining his feet, the now thoroughly convinced lush loudly announced to all present that the one who'd decked him was "the real McCoy."

Similarly, another legend states that McCoy had so many imitators that he eventually had to bill himself as Kid "The Real" McCoy.

No reason exists to believe either tale; they appear more fanciful lore than anything else. However, the boxer's fame likely contributed to the popularity of the expression, as potentially did the fame of another pugilist who bore the actual surname: Al McCoy, middleweight title holder from 1914 to 1917.

That's the long way around to this most likely of explanations of the origin of "the real McCoy": a Scottish whisky slogan came to the U.S., with its "McKay" becoming "McCoy" in the process, with the saying subsequently further popularized through confusion between a popular boxer of the day (Kid McCoy) and the saying (the real McCoy).