Taig, and (primarily formerly) also Teague, are anglicisations of the Irish-language male given name Tadhg, used as ethnic slurs for a stage Irishman.
Taig in Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland is most commonly used as a derogatory term by loyalists to refer to Irish Catholics.
In the late 1680s, the satirical Williamite ballad Lillibullero includes the line: "Ho brother Taig hast thou heard the decree?"
[1] In 1698, John Dunton wrote a mocking account of Ireland, titled Teague Land – or A Ramble with the Wild Irish.
Although the term has rarely been used in North America, a notable example of such use was when future Founding Father and lawyer John Adams successfully defended the soldiers responsible for the 1770 Boston Massacre by pleading to the jury that they were being attacked by: ... most probably a motley rabble of saucy boys, negros and molattoes, Irish Teagues and outlandish jack tarrs.