Are You Celebrating St. Paddy or St. Patty’s Day? If you’re celebrating the latter, you might be giving yourself away as a phony. It is a big pet peeve of any Irish woman or man to see so many people write it wrong, year after year. Patty is a girl’s nickname (think Patricia), while Paddy is short for Pádraig, the Irish version of Patrick.
Lá fhéile Pádraig! As an Irish expat living in NYC it’s a day to be proud of my Irish heritage. But, I am amazed at the sea of green walking along 5th Ave (it's a lot more laid back in Ireland).
Every year on this day, the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade lines up right outside our BuzzBack headquarters and every year it seems to get bigger and bigger. Maybe that's because, as the the Huffington Post pointed out, "there are 34 million people of Irish descent living in America." Which is exactly why it makes sense that St. Patrick's Day was invented in America, to honor their heritage. To put that large number in perspective, Ireland's population is approximately 4.2 million.
In anticipation of bagpipes filling the air, we decided to conduct our latest BuzzPoll on this celebratory holiday. We asked 300 U.S. residents if they were planning on celebrating St. Patrick's Day and 70% said yes, but mainly because they like the ritual/fun, not because they're Irish or religious.
We also found out that half said they'll eat corned beef & cabbage to celebrate. I've been here long enough to know, that's part of the tradition. But, did you know that Irish people in Ireland traditionally don’t eat corned beef and cabbage? We eat bacon and cabbage.
So, are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day? Are you wearing green? Are you even Irish? Tell us in the comments below.
Have an idea for a BuzzPoll? Tell us about it!
