My bad, Ultan ~

I'm the one who suggested the possible interchangeability of 'kiddies' and 'laddies' in trying to find a reason for 'Pincher laddies' in so many variants of McAlpine's Fusiliers. I think my opening sentence about kiddies and laddies being interchangeable in that post confused the matter.

So what did Dominic Behan really write? It appears thus far that we must assume 'Pincher laddies' as sung by the Sons of Erin and many others is incorrect and Pecker Dunne's variant with 'Pincher kiddies' is correct, as Behan wrote it.

All the rest can be attributed to the folk process at work, eh? :-)

Click on this link and you can watch a YouTube video along with the lyrics by the Sons of Erin: McAlpine's Fusiliers.

There's no doubt the term used is 'Pincher laddies'.