# Anyone else hate St. Patrick's Day?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012>\
**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:** 6\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/81 "2011-03-19T14:39:23Z")

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I don’t really dislike St. Patrick’s Day, mainly because I like corned beef and cabbage and because Airman is mostly Irish Catholic. The sprog wore a green shirt to school, I wore some shamrocks to get in the spirit, and that was the extent of things. (Corned beef and cabbage is tonight, though, because Airman had to work Thursday night.) It’s also a good opportunity to learn about Ireland and Irish and Celtic culture.

However, I really, really dislike the alcohol-related buffoonery that seems to go along with it. I dislike having to go five miles an hour down High Street to avoid people pouring out of the bars, and I dislike the idea of being hit by a drunk driver, so I don’t go out after dark. I’ve also been pinched by co-workers for not wearing green in a presumably professional, adult workplace, then accosted for not wanting to go out drinking after work. I don’t drink, don’t enjoy being in places where the sole reason to be there is to drink, and don’t enjoy being hassled over my decision not to go along to watch people drink. As others have posted, it’s amateur night.

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**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 19, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/82 "2011-03-19T14:43:31Z")

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> [@Johanna](#):
>
> 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.

Ah right. There’s also St. Patrick’s Saltire that ain’t green neither. 🙂

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**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/83 "2011-03-19T16:41:03Z")

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St Patrick’s day is fine once you realise it’s not an Irish holiday.

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**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/84 "2011-03-20T08:08:01Z")

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I have yet to meet a Japanese person who knows about St. Patrick’s Day, but they drink enough over here every day that it averages out.

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**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/85 "2011-03-20T15:05:17Z")

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> [@MsRobyn](#):
>
> I don’t drink, don’t enjoy being in places where the sole reason to be there is to drink, and don’t enjoy being hassled over my decision not to go along to watch people drink. As others have posted, it’s amateur night.

You don’t get to call it “amateur night” if you don’t drink. The term is used by people who like to go out drinking but don’t like their favorite venues flooded with drunk assholes who can’t hold their liquor because they go out five times a year.  
For the most part, I like St Patrick’s Day. In college, it was a huge party weekend. When I lived in Boston in my 20s, we had a couple friends who lived in Southie who used to throw a big appartment party every year. Last year St Patricks Day was the start of my friend’s week long bachelor party in Vegas. Nothin wrong with that.

Surprisingly, in NYC, it hasn’t been that huge. Mostly a disproportionate number of people wearing green and there’s the parade and all, but no mobs of drunk people or anything.

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hate-st-patricks-day/575012/86 "2011-03-20T15:08:38Z")

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> [@msmith537](#):
>
> You don’t get to call it “amateur night” if you don’t drink. The term is used by people who like to go out drinking but don’t like their favorite venues flooded with drunk assholes who can’t hold their liquor because they go out five times a year.

Of course you can. I don’t have to be a stand up comic to know that amateur night at a comedy club is somewhere I’d rather not be. The amateurs are just as annoying to the designated drivers as to the drinkers - more, probably.

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