# Anyone else hate St. Patrick's Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012 "2011-03-17T12:24:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/61 "2011-03-18T02:36:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What gets me is when I show up wearing an Irish wool sweater and carrying a shilleleigh, and people ask me why I’m not wearing green. There’s more to a culture than a color, people! Dude… you have a _shilleleigh_. You know what to do. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/62 "2011-03-18T03:10:41Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > (seriously though, I was just joking around above—I would NEVER actually eat shepherds pie) Shepherd’s pie is way the hell better than corned beef and cabbage. I HATE corned beef and cabbage. As for the holiday itself: meh. I don’t hate it, but I sure don’t love it, either. I wear green if just because I don’t feel like being harassed, but, really, I just don’t see the point. I’m Scotch-Irish, which…doesn’t really count, in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/63 "2011-03-18T04:06:37Z")
I guess I’m in the minority here. I actually enjoy St. Patrick’s day. I like being able to celebrate my (admittedly small percentage of) Irish ancestry, after reading of the anti-immigrant persecution the Irish went through when they first came to the States. I cooked corned beef and cabbage for the first time, and it turned out pretty good. Also, my daughter asked for something green other than veggies at dinner, so I put a couple drops of green food coloring in the rice,and she liked it so much she wants me to make green rice every year. As for work, there were many people wearing green, none of whom was remotely Irish, and one supervisor gave out green cookies. The only thing I was disappointed about was the lack of music by Irish artists on the radio, as compared to previous years. About the only Irish music I heard was “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2. No Van Morrison, no Sinead, no Thin Lizzy, not even Metallica’s version of “Whisky in the Jar.” ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/64 "2011-03-18T05:06:19Z")
> [@Lucky\_13](#): > > I guess I’m in the minority here. I actually enjoy St. Patrick’s day. I like being able to celebrate my (admittedly small percentage of) Irish ancestry, after reading of the anti-immigrant persecution the Irish went through when they first came to the States. I cooked corned beef and cabbage for the first time, and it turned out pretty good. Also, my daughter asked for something green other than veggies at dinner, so I put a couple drops of green food coloring in the rice,and she liked it so much she wants me to make green rice every year. As for work, there were many people wearing green, none of whom was remotely Irish, and one supervisor gave out green cookies. The only thing I was disappointed about was the lack of music by Irish artists on the radio, as compared to previous years. About the only Irish music I heard was “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2. No Van Morrison, no Sinead, no Thin Lizzy, not even Metallica’s version of “Whisky in the Jar.” But you see that is the point. I have zero Irish blood in me. I’m 100% Hungarian-Jewish. My wife has zero Irish blood. She’s 100% Chinese. We don’t like pretending we’re Irish, when we so clearly aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/65 "2011-03-18T05:16:27Z")
Must one have matching blood ancestry to participate? I’ve enjoyed Jewish and Chinese cultural events (among others) with no personal genetic ties. Not that green-dyed foods are Irish at all, of course. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/66 "2011-03-18T05:50:41Z")
I used to date a guy who was actually Irish (as in Citizen of the Republic of Ireland attending an American college) and he _despised_ St Patrick’s Day. He wouldn’t even leave his aparment, or watch the parades on TV. Ironically this led to a very fun holiday for us indeed. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/67 "2011-03-18T06:29:26Z")
I hate corned beef too. If you pinch me, I will be very unhappy, and may hurt you. I will not be wearing green. I think the music should be Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys with some U2. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/68 "2011-03-18T07:18:27Z")
Nope, I adore it! And I don’t even like beer, green or otherwise. St. Paddy’s day and Halloween were always my favorite holidays when I was a kid. Now I don’t celebrate them much, but for me, they’re two of the holidays with no real “pressure” or religious aspects to them, just fun for the sake of fun. I just found out today that in Chicago, they dye the river GREEN for a day! That’s adorable! Not like Christmas where there’s so much pressure and stress (how do you afford stuff for everyone etc). Or Valentine’s Day (oh great, and here I am single AGAIN!) and so on. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/69 "2011-03-18T07:22:29Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > …with an orange passion… snicker… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/70 "2011-03-18T08:31:39Z")
Ironically, the actual color representing St. Patrick, and Ireland as well, is not green at all. It’s blue. Green is the color representing _Irish-Americans_. As for wearing orange, again ironically, the episcopal see of St. Patrick was Armagh, in Ulster. It’s been Orange for centuries now. So orange, rather than green, is actually the color with a more direct connection to St. Patrick. I imagine I can hear the voices of a hundred generations of my Ulster Catholic ancestors chorusing how I’m so going to hell for saying that. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/71 "2011-03-18T10:07:55Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I demand equal time for those of German descent! > > I want a day where everybody drinks beer and eats schnitzel and invades and annexes their neighbors’ backyards! Surely this is Oktoberfest? Unless that hasn’t made it over to the US? I don’t really care at all about St Patrick’s Day, except to remember to avoid bars and most pubs on the night itself, and on the weekend if it falls on a Friday-Monday. I was a bit amused that it fell on Taanit Esther this year, and therefore I got to hear my coworkers trying to remember all the traditional Irish foods one is “supposed” to eat while trying to keep my stomach from rumbling too loudly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/72 "2011-03-18T11:56:30Z")
I don’t care one way or the other. It’s not that big a deal in England, especially at the pubs I go to. Even in university, it never cropped up. St Gildas’ Day, on the other hand… that was a party to remember 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/73 "2011-03-18T12:36:58Z")
What is with this pinching I’m hearing of? I was never pinched for not wearing green in all my (fairly long) life. It’s not enough that you get verbally hassled for not wearing green-now they physically accost you? WTH? I have to say that if I’m out last year (I have been in bed sick all week) and someone tries to pinch me–they’re getting decked. Jeebus. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/74 "2011-03-18T12:57:06Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Ironically, the actual color representing St. Patrick, and Ireland as well, is not green at all. It’s blue. > > Green is the color representing _Irish-Americans_. I don’t quite understand what you mean here. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/75 "2011-03-18T12:59:04Z")
In my almost half a century on this planet, I had _never_ heard until this thread that wearing orange on St. Patrick’s day was a no-no. Furthermore, if I’d happened to forget the day and threw on an orange shirt (of which I have several) yesterday, I’m confident nobody would have noticed or cared. Also, I think I might have heard about the practice of pinching non-green-wearers before, but only in the abstract. I’ve never seen it happen or even heard anyone threaten to do so. There was a lot of green in the office yesterday and people were having fun with it – but certainly not to the point of animosity against other colors. I’m curious to hear if this kind of thing is just talk, or if anyone here actually has stories of people who took it seriously enough to get angry and/or physically abusive toward orange and other non-green folks. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/76 "2011-03-19T03:21:00Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I don’t quite understand what you mean here. I mean how [Blue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_blue) is the color associated with St. Patrick and the main heraldic color on the coat of arms of the Irish state. But for Irish-Americans, as documented in this thread, there’s only one color… and it ain’t blue. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/77 "2011-03-19T03:28:00Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > There was a lot of green in the office yesterday and people were having fun with it – but certainly not to the point of animosity against other colors. I’m curious to hear if this kind of thing is just talk, or if anyone here actually has stories of people who took it seriously enough to get angry and/or physically abusive toward orange and other non-green folks. You do **NOT** wear orange on St. Partrick’s Day in Buffalo. Seriously. Kids in my high school that wore orange as a joke on St. Pat’s found themselves beaten to a pulp by the kids from [South Buffalo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Buffalo,_Buffalo,_New_York#Society). They see it as the equivalent of wearing a Klan robe in a black neighborhood. People take that shit VERY seriously in Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/78 "2011-03-19T04:30:59Z")
**Johanna** , green for Ireland, particularly for independent Ireland, is long-established–predating the existence of Irish-Americans as such, in fact. Blue will be found in the emblems and trappings of some Irish national institutions today, but green (often with touches of orange) is the clear leader. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/79 "2011-03-19T04:39:19Z")
Every Thursday night, I like to go and have a Guinness after my ball hockey game, but that was interrupted by all these stupid frat boys filling up the bar. So yes, I hate St. Patty’s day. I was wearing my intramural ball hockey shirt out, though, which was orange, so technically I was having an Orange Day parade with the rest of the boys (despite being Catholic, of course, lol)! I don’t like the mounds of idiots in the street, the green, the clovers, or the people who suddenly can’t get enough of Dropkick Murphys and U2. Also, I’m Italian; we cornered the market on being stupid and drunk 1000 years before St. Patrick was even BORN, so have some respect. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/80 "2011-03-19T05:20:31Z")
Hoboken NJ actually has it’s own St Patrick’s Day before March 17. It’s ridiculous. Every Jersey Shore meathead for miles around turns the town in to a one square mile frat party. > [@Johanna](#): > > As for wearing orange, again ironically, the episcopal see of St. Patrick was Armagh, in Ulster. It’s been Orange for centuries now. So orange, rather than green, is actually the color with a more direct connection to St. Patrick. I imagine I can hear the voices of a hundred generations of my Ulster Catholic ancestors chorusing how I’m so going to hell for saying that. The Dutch wear orange for Queens Day. Pretty big party in Amsterdam. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012.md?page=5)