Some would say that Saint Patrick’s day has already been slandered enough through various forms of leprechaun-costumed commercialism, but other brave souls are determined to draw a line in the sand and say ‘this far but no further’.
In this light we’d like to offer the following public announcement: it’s Paddy not Patty.
If you like to use the nickname for Patrick, the 5th century British missionary who bought Christianity to Ireland and (supposedly) booted out the snakes then it’s Paddy you need, a name itself that originates from the Irish Pádraig.
It’s not quite clear when the ‘Patty’ mistake came about, but it’s probably some mixture of the fact that the ‘Patty’ and ‘Paddy’ sound nearly identical in an American accent; because Patrick, the anglicised version of Pádraig, can be shortened to ‘Pat’; and because ‘Paddy’ has been used as a slur for the Irish and people are trying to be polite.*
Either way I'm sure people round the world are finding something green to wear and something black to drink. From all at HDW Happy St Patrick's Day.
*Taken from the Independent
