Yeah, as a Proddy I was gonna wear orange today but I figured it might get me beat up.
Snakes are cool. They taste like chicken. (Actually I have no idea what they taste like as I have never eaten one. Good Proddy girls don’t eat snakes. Unless money changes hands first. 
)
<SLAPS Terrifel with Pink Salmon, Orange Tuna, Yellow Eels, Blue Gills, and WET TROUT>
You laugh, but I went to high school when ugly Qiana shirts were the rage. I used to wear a flowered Quiana (no idea how to spell that word) collared shirt, dark green background with small orange and cream flowers all over it. It was a compromise of sorts.
yojimbo–love the “flag”!
I’m glad to hear the religious holiday was separate from the drunken fest this year. No festivus here–I worked and now am doing homework…
I always wondered why the Irish didn’t just toss old Padraig off the nearest cliff when he started spouting his gibberish.
… because there’s nothing the Irish love more than a mad poet?
The Orange, of course, comes from the mighty Netherlands, along with William of Orange, who ascended to the English throne after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, along with his wife, Mary.
If ya ain’t Dutch, ya ain’t much. 
Oh dear, Eleanor, I love you despite your burnt umberage of a heritage, but I was being extra snarky with the Paisley comment. Ian Paisley is the Phred Phelps of Orangemen.
Because Christianity was popular with certain segments of the Irish population, especially women, slaves, and the chieftains of minor clans. He was apparently beaten and arrested on several occasions, though.
Was it in that order?
Thank you! I loathe St. Pat’s day–honoring a man who converted a nation by the sword? I’ve started to ask people who try to pinch me (which never works out well for them) what they’re doing for Idi Amin day next month…or Torquemada’s birthday in September.
Torquemada’s birthday every year always catches me by surprise, I never expect it.
You realize that Ireland wasn’t united until the rule of the Tudors and the Stuarts, and that Ireland before the coming of Patrick (as well as for a long time after it) was divided into a lot of petty kingdoms that were pretty constantly warring against each other. They might not have fought over religion (and there weren’t that many fights in Ireland over religion until the Reformation, btw), but that doesn’t mean they didn’t fight.
Oh.
<slinks away in profound and utter embarassment> :o
Hey! Even the embarassed emoticon is orange. It MUST mean something! 
Does it involve a comfy chair, I hope?
And, for the record, Patrick didn’t convert Ireland “by the sword”. Patrick was a peaceful person, and he didn’t forceably convert anyone.
A common error. Turns out he converted them “by the sward” --you know, that big grassy meadow over yonder.
<SMALL APPLAUSE> Oh, very nice! </SMALL APPLAUSE>
Captain Amazing Lies! Lies spread by Christian historians! Under the Tuatha, Ireland was united and peaceful.
WhyNot Could it be you don’t correct my op because it’s not wrong? Could it be deep down you know I couldn’t be more right?
Oh, that could be it.
Or, you know, the other thing.