real MacKay

Scots

Etymology

Attested in 1856 as “A drappie o’ the real MacKay” (A drop of the real MacKay).[1][2][3] Used as advertising slogan of G. MacKay & Co., Ltd., a whisky distiller.

Later attested 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson:[4]

For society, there isna sae muckle, but there’s myself—the auld Johnson, ye ken—he’s the real Mackay…

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌreɪl məˈkaɪ/, /ˌriəl məˈkaɪ/

Noun

the real MacKay

  1. (idiomatic) The real McCoy, the genuine article, not an imitation.

Descendants

References
  1. Scottish National Dictionary
  2. 2007 OED
  3. Susie Dent of the Oxford University Press, on February 8, 2008 broadcast of Countdown.
  4. R.L.S.: Stevenson’s Letters to Charles Baxter, 1956, ed. De Lancey Ferguson and Marshall Waingrow, p. 125
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