Patsy

In American slang, a patsy is a person taken advantage of, especially one considered relatively naïve. The term is widely regarded as an ethnic slur, in light of the likely theory that it arose in the mid-18th century when East Coast urban centers in the U.S. included a notable abundance of recent migrants from rural Ireland, among whom nickname Patsy (for Patrick, after the patron saint of Ireland) was relatively common.

Related Topics:
18^th century - Patron saint of Ireland

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Two main contexts of the general term, at least in fiction, are:

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• confidence games, where the patsy in question is the "mark" intended to be deceived and thereby deprived of something of value, and
• frame-ups by a perpetrator of a crime, who manipulates evidence to incriminate and thus scapegoat the patsy, who may be either an innocent party, or a confederate whom the framer regards as expendable. The description as patsies may apply over a wide range of circumstances, from the betrayal being an inherant part of the planned crime concealed from the patsy, to its being a spur-of-the-moment response to an unanticipated problem.
 
Patsy: See also ►