This might be an extremely picky point, but......which is it?
St. Patty's Day? or St. Paddy's Day?
As a newspaper ad designer, this holiday always bothers me, because plenty of restaurants and bars are advertising their green beer specials and their corned beef and cabbage. And some write it as St. Patty's, while others write St. Paddy's.
Every year when I look through other newspapers, I never see a clear favorite, either. I think the d's are slightly more popular, but you see plenty of t's in ads, too.
What really irks me about this dilemma is that I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. If it's up to me, I spell it St. Patty's Day. But if people want to push for Paddy's...I don't argue. I see the logic in that spelling, too.But it taps far enough into my neurotic self that I wish we could pick one and go with it! I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Enough about that.
Today in my e-mail I found an Irish blessing, and while I know St. Pat's is nearly over as I write this, I thought I'd share it anyway...
Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.
Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.
Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone. And if you find yourself mulling over the d's vs. t's debate from above to the point of confusion...just order another one of these, and soon you won't care how anything is spelled!"In Ireland the inevitable never happens
and the unexpected constantly occurs."
—Sir John Pentland Mahaffy
and the unexpected constantly occurs."
—Sir John Pentland Mahaffy
I'm not positive, but I think it depends on your meaning. "Patty" would be a nickname for Patrick, but "Paddy" is, I think, a reference to the old 20th century ethnic slur for Irish immigrants who often ended up drunk and in the back of police wagons or "Paddywaggons."
ReplyDelete(I don't know how I know these things. I just do.)
Er, I meant 19th Century slur. Whatever. :)
ReplyDeleteSo am I correct in assuming that "Patty" leans toward being more correct?
ReplyDeleteWould it be "Happy St. Patty's Day," and "Happy Paddy's Day," then? Without the reference to the saint if you use the d's?
I'd still vote for Patty, but I'm not going to let it stop me from enjoying my beer.
If I had to choose, I guess I'd say "Patty" just to be safe.
ReplyDelete(But my ancestry is mostly Scottish, so what the hell do I know? :)