Yvonne Gallagher Aug 6, 2019:

I also agree with Tony's interpretation here.

B D Finch Jul 14, 2019:

@Asker Agree with Tony's interpretation of this, i.e. that the "Mc" prefix means fake or not up to much and so it's a sarcastic comment meaning that he only has pretend balls.

jccantrell Jul 14, 2019:

Unexpected courage I would assume that it is not Howie who said this, but rather one of the group being bullied who had stood up to him.
In the USA, there is a penchant for attaching 'Mc" to several things to kind of play on the ubiquitousness of McDonald's restaurants (McMansion comes to mind, a big house built to fill up an expensive lot upsetting the neighbors).
So, I would think this is just kid slang to say that the person showed unexpected courage.
How I see it from the USA.

marijas (asker) Jul 14, 2019:

Thanks for your kind answers.

Howie is a local bully that attacked a group of kids.

The dialogue is between kids after that. There is no wider context.

Tony M Jul 14, 2019:

@ Asker: Context? The key context here is: who says what?

I think Howard's friend is being sarcastic when they say "Lots of McBalls" — suggesting this cowardly Howard, who is outwardly hateful and violent, actually lacks guts or 'balls'.
With reference to MacDonald's, lots of things these days are getting referred to as "m(a)c..." with the meaning that they are fake / not real / illusory — e.g. macjobs: jobs that are really not "proper" jobs at all.
So he is suggesting that Howard's outward bravado is merely that: fake 'guts' or 'balls'.

philgoddard Jul 14, 2019:

Could we have the wider context, please. What does it say before and after this?
Of course, this may not be possible to answer if even the other character doesn't know what it means.

airmailrpl Jul 14, 2019:

Mcball You can see how Mcball families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Mcball family name was found in the USA, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Mcball families were found in and Scotland in 1851and Scotland in 1861and Scotland in 1871and Scotland in 1901. In 1851 there were 7 Mcball families living in Renfrewshire. This was about 64% of all the recorded Mcball's in Scotland. Renfrewshire had the highest population of Mcball families in 1851.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=mcball

airmailrpl Jul 14, 2019:

McBalls McBalls - Urban Dictionary
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=McBalls
Balls that smell like Fastfood (i.e. Fries, Hamburger, or Milkshake). To verify the smell of your own McBalls, you can simply leave your hand on them for a while, .