# The wearing of the green **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014 "2011-03-17T13:16:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/61 "2011-03-17T20:54:03Z")
Honestly, I don’t think I own a stitch of green clothing, and definitely nothing that would be appropriate for the office. It’s not a color that I particularly favor, sartorially, and I’m not going to go get a green tie just for the occasion. ETA: My ethnic heritage is sufficiently murky that I don’t call it anything but American, though I imagine it probably traces back primarily to England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland in some combination. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/62 "2011-03-17T20:56:10Z")
I normally would be happily wearing green quite deliberately, but we had a special event at work today. With coordinating red t-shirts to wear for it. Bah humbug! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/63 "2011-03-17T21:04:35Z")
I am of Irish descent. My father was the first of my family born here. My grandparents were from County Mayo and arrived here in 1899. By family tradition, no one in my family wears green on St. Patrick’s Day. My father passed away in 1954. His opinion was that he was Irish every day of the year, and wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day was commonplace or those who were not. The actual way he put this would probably offend many people here. He was a blue collar worker in the days before anyone was politically correct. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/64 "2011-03-17T21:22:50Z")
I’m about half Irish (3/4 British isles mutt) and I forgot today was St. Patric’s day. About 10 min from the house the radio reminded me so I turned around and changed into my Irish National rugby jersey. There’s only a couple of days a year I get to not dress up for work St. Pat’s, and when the Raider and Broncos play. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/65 "2011-03-17T21:38:35Z")
I never remember and this year I wore green but it was purely accidental. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/66 "2011-03-18T01:02:43Z")
Jeeze, what do you guys all have against St. Patrick’s Day? I wore a nice green shirt today (I look good in green anyway) and had a nice green-icinged chocolate cupcake. I didn’t think I was making any kind of statement for or against anything - I was just having a bit of fun. > [@silenus](#): > > Some Irish descent, and I usually wear orange on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve seen the pictures - I suspect you wear at least a little orange EVERY day. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/67 "2011-03-18T01:56:14Z")
I’m in an area that is at least 80 percent Hispanic, and I don’t think I saw ANYone today who wasn’t wearing green on purpose. I was actually rather surprised. Oh, also, the work cafeteria served corned beef and cabbage today. Amazingly, a lot of people ate it! Including me, and…it wasn’t half bad. I’m halfIrish, with the rest some austrian-slovenian mix, and grew up with cabbage thrown at me from both sides of the family. I was in my 20’s before I figured out cabbage could taste GOOD, ie stir-fried or slawed. Still…today’s wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/68 "2011-03-18T02:06:25Z")
I usually wear green, just because I like celebrating holidays. I didn’t today just because I hung out at home all day. I’m slightly Irish, but that doesn’t matter to me; I’d wear green if I were going out regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/69 "2011-03-18T02:19:21Z")
I am neither Irish (that I know of or care about) nor am I religious at all. I inadvertently wore orange today. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/70 "2011-03-18T02:56:26Z")
Growing up Catholic with names like O’Hara, Murphy, Kelsey and Fitzpatrick scattered throughout my family tree, not wearing green isn’t an option. 😛 Great-Granda would roll over in his grave. ::raises a glass of green beer to **DPJ** :: And I sang _Danny Boy_ at the pub tonight in honor of all of the Irish (and wannabes) and Saint Pat himself. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/71 "2011-03-18T03:21:45Z")
I didn’t even think about it when I was getting dressed yesterday morning. In any event, I have no green clothing that is suitable for work wear. ---
**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, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/72 "2011-03-18T10:04:51Z")
I’m Irish and the wearing of the green just isn’t codified here in the same way it is in the US. I’d usually wear some shamrocks or a paddy’s day badge on St. Patrick’s Day but didn’t do either yesterday. Even wearing orange wouldn’t get you noticed. A lot of people go around wearing tricolours etc. on Paddy’s Day, y’know the flag with the big orange part to it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/73 "2011-03-18T10:33:48Z")
Other - Don’t care enough about St P’s Day to think about it one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/74 "2011-03-18T11:21:44Z")
I’m from Spain, no Irish descent, so I wouldn’t wear green “because it’s St Patrick” in any case; there’s been years I happened to have something green on and others when I didn’t, but that applies to all 365.25 days/year. The first time I heard about the “green for St Pat” was in my 5th year of living in the US, when I had to explain to my Irish-American boss that there’s no reason not-Irish-at-all me would “show Irish pride” (that was the same year I had to explain to a little old lady who was also watching the 4th of July parade that if I had been “waving my flag proudly” it would have been red and yellow - maybe that kind of assumption is a Philly thing?). ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/75 "2011-03-18T11:48:47Z")
I usually don’t bother about St Patrick’s Day, or the entire Lenten/Easter season either, yet there was no way i was going to wear my orange workshirt on St Paddy’s day. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/76 "2011-03-18T12:01:28Z")
I wore a bunch of green, but didn’t think about it beforehand. Had I thought about it, I would have still worn green, regardless of my views of the tradition, simply because that’s what color my uniform happens to be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/77 "2011-03-18T17:14:33Z")
I’ve got a number of green shirts. So I shrugged and put on a pale green undershirt from the Grand Canyon. But much as I like corned beef, I don’t really give a crap about St. Patrick’s Day. ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/78 "2011-03-18T20:02:18Z")
I’m a teensy smidge Irish. My mother at some point made me wear orange, as her mother had done. I was in elementary school and I had to explain to my classmates that I didn’t forget the green and that the orange was deliberate because I was protestant. None of us had a clue about the politics of religion in Ireland…and never really associated the holiday with religion anyway. So I was just the weird kid. Again. Thanks, Mom. It was an annoying day. This year, I wore green undies. And I voted other. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/79 "2011-03-18T20:46:33Z")
I probably have some Irish ancestry, but I’m kind of a mixture of Scots-Irish-English-Welsh. If I remember it’s St. Patricks’ day, I’ll try to wear something green. Yesterday I didn’t because I went to a funeral. I wore purple. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014/80 "2011-03-18T20:57:56Z")
I voted “other.” I wore green (wth amber jewelry - I was raised as a Prot), but wasn’t sure how to answer the Irish question. My family’s mostly Scottish, but they may (or may not) have been part of a migration of Irish Celts. We did think my mom’s family was Irish for a long time because the only research anyone had done went back to the ancestor who came to the US. All we knew was that he got on the boat in Ireland. It wasn’t til a few years ago that a cousin dug some more and found that he’d actually been born and raised in Edinburgh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wearing-of-the-green/575014.md?page=5)