RE: O' Taters Irish Restaurant
In my mind the issues with the "O' ______" part of the name are minor compared to the "Taters" bit. Would I prefer that BGW avoid cheesy stereotypes such as putting "O'" in front of a word to make it sound Irish? Most definitely. That said, for me personally, I can roll my eyes and cringe at some of the more cheesy cultural stereotypes.
The "Taters" part though... That is a different story in my mind.
First off, references to potatoes in the context of Irish history instantly harken back to the Irish Potato Famine—a period in which roughly 1 million Irish people died of starvation or related causes and in which another 1 million fled Ireland. In total, the island's population dropped by nearly a quarter thanks to the famine.
Secondly, after fleeing their homeland in search of food, they were treated horribly by many of the countries into which they immigrated. They were often called all manner of derogatory names—including terms such as "
potato eaters."
Thirdly, "taters" is a heavily stereotyped "country bumkin" version of potatoes in the same vein as "feller" vs. "fellow." This, in effect, acts to reenforce the "uneducated and dumb" stereotypes that Irish immigrates faced after fleeing Ireland in mass to places like the United States.
Naming what I have to assume is a fictional, "fun," character in the park's lore by combining a cringy Irish stereotype with a colloquial "country" version of potato—a word that had been used to mock Irish immigrants for over a hundred years—seems like an incredibly poor judgement call. I have to assume the park simply didn't put much thought into the implications of their new, "fun" restaurant name, but I think they may need to reconsider their choice.
