Saint Patrick's Day, a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on the 17th of March. It's a real holiday commemorating the real Saint Patrick, which is recognized as a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Montserrat, and has generally become accepted worldwide as a celebration of Irish culture in general.
You can look up all the details of its origins on
Wikipedia or your preferred online resource. While there are not many people who haven't heard of this holiday, there are plenty who are not aware of the sorted details and long historical religious significance it has had.
In modern times there are many people especially in the United States, which despite having its own
history with the holiday, who know little more than the significance of the color green and, for many, the copious consumption of alcohol that is synonymous with the holiday to them. These deviations can be seen as insulting to an actually religious holiday, but couldn't the same be said for the rather popular reputation Christmas has with many, especially the nonreligious?
Indeed, for many people St. Patrick's Day conjures up thoughts of "green beer" such as these two
Boston frequenters, who comment on the random connection chat website
Omegle that they "don't even know what st paddy's is anymore".
Omegle, which in no way necessarily represents the public in general, does represent a common demographic of people, those who wish to fill time by chatting with strangers online. As the writer of this article I have taken it upon myself to pose the question to these totally random individuals, "What do you think St. Patrick's Day is for most people?" And indeed, many
responded quite
frankly towards their belief of its
significance to alcohol. Some even acknowledging the change in meaning it has taken.
And while many have, in usual internet form, been
quite rude about the Irish and their nationality's own perceived connection to alcohol, many answers were read and a few people making the same connections between the holiday and alcohol have
claimed themselves to be Irish. Going as far to say by one
random stranger, "Coming from an Irishman, there's not much more to it."
While it may be unknown the authenticity of these answers, another question was posed to these random people, namely what they would say to someone who told them they were offended by saying St. Patrick's Day is kind of for alcoholics, assuming they understood it was meant as a comment about the holiday's modern interpretation. And while many were somewhat rude about just telling that person to
"get over it" there were those who understood
"its just a joke", an unfortunately true one about the popular meaning to this holiday.
However, one answerer put it best when
they said "If they were offended then I would say sorry that they were offended."
Other People = Comments, Me = Journal-type thing
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