Last year, on this day, I received a lecture from a friend of Irish heritage. I made the mistake of wishing him a “Happy St. Patty’s Day.”
I know I can be a stickler for certain things related to spelling and grammar — and I fully admit to being in the wrong on this one.
He explained: The holiday is St. Patrick’s Day, named after Saint Patrick, a patron saint of Ireland. Patrick, being a saint, of course, is a boy’s name. It’s the Americanized version of the Irish name “Padraig.” (I feel like I should put the period outside the quotation marks
, as a tribute U.K. punctuation conventions, followed in Ireland.)
, as a tribute U.K. punctuation conventions, followed in Ireland.)
If we are to abbreviate “Padraig,” we would write “Paddy.” The short form “Patty,” my friend informed me, is a girl’s name, typically short for Patricia. Hence, the holiday is St. Paddy’s Day, to honor the (male) saint, Patrick or Padraig. Incidentally, there are many alternate spellings of Padraig, the most common being Padraic. None of them employs double Ts.
I’m not sure why we can “Americanize” the holiday by calling it St. Patrick’s Day, rather than St. Padraig’s day, but shouldn’t use an Americanized abbreviation for Patrick. But we shouldn’t. Because it’s wrong. People named Padraig will corroborate this assertion.
I’d like to wish all our readers, from all over the world, a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Or Happy St. Paddy’s Day. But not St. Patty’s Day.
I’m off, now, to enjoy another Irish word that employs double consonants: Guinness.
Well, if you enjoyed a Guinness (a meal in a glass),
“it’s all good,” as the kids would say.