Happy St. Patrick's Day! March 17, 2017 8:00 AM   Subscribe

How are you celebrating? Are you reading about Irish history? Maybe some James Joyce? Or maybe you're having a nice stout craft beer. Just make sure it's poured correctly. Share how you are celebrating St. Patrick's Day or how you are not. And remember to stay safe.
posted by Fizz to MetaFilter-Related at 8:00 AM (98 comments total)

I'll read some James Joyce when I get home from work and I'll have a Guinness. I don't do green or go to the bar. I'm a bit more low-key about my celebrations. For those that do hit up the bar. Be safe in your celebrations. Cheers.
posted by Fizz at 8:02 AM on March 17, 2017


Happy St. Patrick's Day is one of the two days of the year I pretty much refuse to leave the house. The other is New Year's. Just too many drunks on the road.

So I am celebrating by staying inside and embracing my inner-agoraphobe.

I plan to finish a song and work on a puppet video.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:23 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


I may go out for a Guinness tonight, but more likely I'll pick up some Guinness at the store and just drink a couple at home while watching March Madness with the family.
I'm of Irish descent (great grandfather arrived in Boston from Inis Mor in 1905), but I've never made a big deal out of St. Patrick's Day.
posted by COD at 8:26 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


My Mom was born on St. Patrick's Day. It's always been a special holiday to me because of that. I don't plan to do any additional celebrating, but I've got a shamrock scarf on, two "good luck" bracelets and four pins of various holiday imagery.

(she passed away on Independence Day a few years ago)
posted by INFJ at 8:31 AM on March 17, 2017


I'm not doing anything because I'm not Irish. This year, for the first time in ages, I'm working at home, and I'm very happy about this because I don't have to listen to people chirping at me over and over that everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day!
posted by scratch at 8:36 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


Green goodies at work yippee! That and perhaps an episode of Black Books will be the extent of my cultural appropriation.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:45 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


A co-worker tried valiantly to get the green doughnuts today, but apparently so did everybody else, and they were sold out when it was her turn in line. So there were regular doughnuts and those were tasty. Someone also brought in this wonderfully large fruit bowl, and I have eaten a whole lot of pineapple, kiwi, and strawberry. It is delicious.

After work, it's leftover night at my house, because I made too many tacos earlier in the week. (Can there be such a thing as too many tacos?)

Then we're going to a friend's house for their weekly board game thing, where I expect there will be Irish beer, more green things, and other appropriately festive attempts at celebrating.
posted by PearlRose at 8:56 AM on March 17, 2017


A fellow tramp and I are celebrating today by cutting off our legs and sitting completely still in a funeral urn contained in a garbage can buried in a sand heap located in a rubbish tip while a single spotlight illuminates a cassette recorder playing a tape of our younger selves speaking non-stop for 40 minutes about taking a single step again and again first toward and then away from a small window. But just for the craic, mind you.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2017 [25 favorites]


I made green ice cream last night, and today I shared on FaceBook some snapshots -- one of my wife, one of me -- on our honeymoon in Ireland twenty years ago.

When I went to share the pictures today, I was surprised at the number of people posting cheesy stuff ("top o' the mornin' to ya!" and a row of shamrock emoji) because I guess I thought they ought to...know a little more about their own family history? Or about actual Irish culture? Or about....something? I'm well aware that I wasn't born in Ireland, and it's not my fight to have, but...it seems weird not to equally celebrate my German or French or Norwegian roots. *shrug* Maybe I'll blow the roof off on syttende mai.

Sorry to bring down the room. Hmmmm..... Let's try to fix this:

Today Joe Biden's FaceBook page has a very nice set of photos from a family trip to Ireland: https://www.facebook.com/joebiden/
posted by wenestvedt at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Oh, and I wore a green shirt to work.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2017


It's a day off work here which is the main thing I like about it, and we're spending the day watching Catastrophe and sports on tv, and drinking tea and eating cheese on toast. It's what St Patrick would have wanted.
posted by billiebee at 9:02 AM on March 17, 2017 [5 favorites]


Today, in self defense, I painted my fingernails light green. Tonight I'm attending a friend's pre-wedding friends and family gathering.
posted by mightshould at 9:08 AM on March 17, 2017


I will be celebrating in the traditional way - with a six-minute club remix of Fields of Athenry.
posted by terretu at 9:11 AM on March 17, 2017


I am at most 1/16th Irish, so my celebration was unfortunately limited to 6 to 7:30. I showered in the traditional Irish manner; fed the toddler a traditional Irish breakfast of Muenster cheese, Kix, and oranges; and drove to work in my traditional Irish Prius.

And now I'm watching some of my cousins argue on Facebook about whether the Rom have always been more oppressed than the Irish or whether we can allow that on a few occasions, they might have passed us.

Sláinte, ya filthy animals.
posted by Etrigan at 9:15 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]


Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, in no particular order.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:18 AM on March 17, 2017 [10 favorites]


That means on shuffle. Get your mind out of the gutter.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:18 AM on March 17, 2017 [5 favorites]


I'm attending Tomatomania at Tapia Bros. Farms and packing for a nice weekend in Palm Springs.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:26 AM on March 17, 2017


... drinking tea and eating cheese on toast. It's what St Patrick would have wanted

And by God he loved his toast, didn't he, St Patrick? Always goin' on about it, he was - "come on boys get them snakes outta Ireland now, I got nowhere to put me toast," he'd say.

"Very well St Patrick", we'd say, "but don't come runnin' to us now when you're wantin' a bit of snake on that toast".

"Go on now," he'd reply, "It's plain toast I'll be wantin', not yer feckin snakes". Oh, a filthy mouth he had on him too. Though to be fair, it was usually full of toast.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 9:29 AM on March 17, 2017 [23 favorites]


I managed to wear green and get the kids in green. I made the mistake of telling my preschooler that the restaurant we were going to for lunch might have something special that is colored green (they did not). Somehow he knew that lettuce shouldn't count.
posted by TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln at 9:33 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


My socks have some green in them, so I have that covered. I may end up going out for drinks after work with a group of gingerbeer's harm reduction colleagues so god only knows what will happen.
posted by rtha at 9:34 AM on March 17, 2017


The way I celebrate most holidays, which is Googling "[holiday] pin-ups" and posting a bunch of them to Facebook. Thanksgiving is usually the best for this because there's a whole weird subgenre of women dressed as pilgrims and menacing turkeys with axes. Found some suitably weird/silly ones today though.
posted by skycrashesdown at 9:36 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Because I am a good Catholic lass, The Wolfe Tones (on loud). And an Ireland rugby shirt (on me).

And milkybones for the rats, because it's a feast day even if we are in the middle of Lent.

I hasten to add that we do not actually compel our rats to observe Lent. But we have been obliged to dial it back on the treats of late, as a few of them are beginning to tend towards portliness, so they have certainly been considering themselves as Deprived Of Luxury for a while.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 9:54 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


(I would like to apologise for channelling Mrs. Doyle (of Craggy Island) above, which was done out of love for said Mrs. Doyle and not intentionally out of mockery for Mr. Patrick or other persons of the blessed Republic, the blessed Island or the diaspora of either; but feel free to tell me to fuck off if you think it best, and then off I will fuck.)
posted by the quidnunc kid at 9:59 AM on March 17, 2017


I think I'm going to watch The Quiet Man, though I sort of wonder if I will enjoy it these days or just cringe at its datedness where relations between the sexes are concerned.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:00 AM on March 17, 2017


I am terribly excited. I'm wearing my claddagh-and-sword pin and will be attending the Irish Stand rally for justice & equality in NYC tonight. I'm practically beside myself. I've always been proud of my immigrant heritage, and I'm especially touched that - thanks to outspoken senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Irish-Americans are stepping up for justice, representing our progressive contingent, after decades of being represented by reactionary old men in the AOH who choked on the notion of things as simple as allowing gays to march in parades. It will be exciting to be among people united by that vision, the descendants of earlier generations of immigrants uniting with those arriving now for a better future.
posted by Miko at 10:04 AM on March 17, 2017 [5 favorites]


TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln: made the mistake of telling my preschooler that the restaurant we were going to for lunch might have something special that is colored green (they did not).

A co-worker brought food coloring to turn their oatmeal green. It's cuter if you're doing it for a kid, IMO.

I happened to grab an over-hat (which is just a really large knit cap that fits over other hats) with some green on it, after telling my wife that it's Saint Patrick's Day today this morning. We were dressed, and I didn't feel like changing. I'll have Guinness at home (I was thinking I might have a Killians, but after a moment of searching, I see it's not really that Irish any more), and we'll probably play some Pogues, Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys, probably including this weird mash-up of Flogging Molly with set to video clips from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, because kids.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:05 AM on March 17, 2017


its my birthday:

last night fancy dinner with husband
today 'lunch' with my boytoy
tonight, finally seeing Get Out!!!
this weekend: yardwork, cabinet painting, house stuff!! and an art show sat night.

I'm feeling much stoke and it all does take the sting out of turning 49 :P

(and I am a green eyed 95% Irish descent girl born on St P's)
posted by supermedusa at 10:10 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


I got a James Joyce tattoo? and we drank to celebrate an achievement at work? I never do this right.
posted by French Fry at 10:13 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm going to wonder about my Irish ancestors who emigrated to America. Did they come because they were literally starving, or did they have trouble digesting a 90% potato and dairy diet, like I do? Did they leave home because they wanted to be rich and own slaves, or could they just not stand living under their parents' control one more day? Were they short? Were they as prone to alcoholism as their descendants? How many had red hair? Were they kind?
posted by amtho at 10:17 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]


I ate green pistachio muffins with friends this morning while reminiscing about college St. Patrick's Day celebrations. My story was that I always felt a little bit guilty celebrating because at the time I didn't think I had any Irish heritage ( I now know that I do, thanks to ancestry.com DNA testing), but my Notre Dame alumna friend beat us all with the tale of all her friends leaving the bar together just long enough to go to Mass.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:34 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


My boss and his friends just went out to lunch. Between St. Patrick's Day, March Madness, and the fact that it's a Friday means that they will not be back for a long, long time.
posted by Melismata at 10:44 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


My mom is an Irish immigrant so St. Patrick's day has always been a kind of family holiday for us, similar to Thanksgiving, though not quite as a big a deal and only with our immediate family.

So my mom and one of my brothers and his family are coming over, including my nephew who has been in Japan since last summer. We'll have corned beef and cabbage (even though my mom insists she'd never heard of corned beef and cabbage until she came to America) and I will try not to bring up Donald Trump and mention how I no longer consider my uber-Catholic mom to be a Christian since she basically voted against the exact opposite of Christ's teachings and instead I will bottle up my resentment until after she leaves at which point I will calmly tell my wife what I wished I had screamed at my mother and my wife will remind me that my mom is 85 and I need to let this shit go and I know she's right but WHAT THE FUCK, MOM?
posted by bondcliff at 10:52 AM on March 17, 2017 [7 favorites]


I just drank a diet Mountain Dew, which according to the ingredients label is largely concentrated orange juice that is somehow processed to an unholy neon green. I feel satisfied.
posted by DingoMutt at 10:52 AM on March 17, 2017


Is this the year pistachio became the official flavor of St. Patrick's Day? I could swear the stuff wasn't nearly this ubiquitous in St. Pat's Days past. Can you even grow pistachios in Ireland?
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:57 AM on March 17, 2017


Mountain Dew, which according to the ingredients label is largely concentrated orange juice that is somehow processed to an unholy neon green.

I feel like this is not true for some reason, but who knows, I've not had a sip of Mountain Dew for more than 15 years.
posted by Fizz at 10:57 AM on March 17, 2017


One of my coworkers tried to pinch me this morning because I'm not wearing green (I forgot it was St Patrick's Day, otherwise I would have worn not-green on principle, not just accidentally) so I tore a shamrock off the garland she's had up in her cube since Valentine's Day and put it in my hair.

It fell in the toilet when I went to go pee shortly after.

Happy St Patrick's Day!
posted by phunniemee at 11:02 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Mountain Dew, which according to the ingredients label is largely concentrated orange juice that is somehow processed to an unholy neon green.

I feel like this is not true for some reason, but who knows, I've not had a sip of Mountain Dew for more than 15 years.
posted by Fizz at 2:57 PM on March 17 [+] [!]


It really shouldn't be true, but there it is on my ingredients label: CARBONATED WATER, CONCENTRATED ORANGE JUICE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR (...)

St. Patrick exerted his will over nature by expunging all those snakes; the fine folks of PepsiCo do so by creating glowing green fizzy orange juice ... same difference, right?
posted by DingoMutt at 11:05 AM on March 17, 2017


Celebrating by currently alternating from chills to the sweats... sadly not from drinking too heavily and instead from the flu!
posted by Nanukthedog at 11:24 AM on March 17, 2017


I realized this morning that I managed to Marie Kondo all my green clothes away last year, but that's okay, because if anyone goddamn pinches me, I'm filing a police report
posted by purpleclover at 11:37 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


I wore black and gray today - not in protest, just because that's what I usually wear. Only one person so far commented on a lack of a specific color in my outfit and I said, "My last name (O'Mara) is green enough."

As for celebrating? I'm in New Orleans and we had a very late Carnival season this year - Mardi Gras was only 17 days ago. Last weekend we had our two big St. Patrick's Day parades. The city is still kind of worn out and resting up for festival season which starts in ... oh god, like two weeks[*]. I haven't spoken to anyone who's headed out partying tonight, at least not any more than New Orleanians usually party during Lent.

... which is to say that we're all drinking far less than we were two-three weeks ago, but still most likely more than the average American, and this is our 'taking it easy' time of year.
posted by komara at 11:56 AM on March 17, 2017


My daughters are Irish step dancers so my wife is spending the day driving them to all their performances. Their last gig is to march in a parade and I'll meet them there after work. There will be more performances over the weekend, including one at a pub (one reason why I prefer this type of dancing is that I can sometimes drink while they perform).
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 12:11 PM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


Oh, and green is my favorite color (that's a thing adults can still have, right?) so my hat, snow clogs, and winter coat are all the right color for the parade.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 12:13 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


After work I'll be buying a bottle each of Bushmill's and Jameson's (for reasons of fairness and balance) to bring home and sip from while I studiously avoid wearing any nationally-significant colors whatsoever.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:15 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Perhaps I can induce a local MeFite or two to join me in quiet alcoholic contemplation of humanity and its foibles.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:17 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I renamed myself 'Dwayne' a year ago, which is a name with Celtic origins. Thus, Every Day is St. Patrick's Day.

But for this day? Work on a final project for school, and eat corned beef and cabbage at that ancient bastion of Irish-American culture, Whole Foods. And drink copious amounts of tea because of that aforementioned final project. (no booze for me; I don't drink.)
posted by spinifex23 at 12:29 PM on March 17, 2017


Oh,also watched Finian's Rainbow on Turner Classic Movies.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:53 PM on March 17, 2017


I have a big jar of pesto to make my dinner verdant. And I posted some immigrant love on Facebook.
posted by puddledork at 12:53 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Green shirt plus a green face (partially due to envy over something very stupid, and partially because I think I just totally fucked up an important work relationship and I am sick to my stomach about it). Will probably attempt to drown my sorrows by getting a copy of Darby O'Gill and the Little People to stream tonight.
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:08 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Fucking hate American idea of celebrating St Patrick's day.
posted by terrapin at 1:25 PM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


Dang, and all this time I've thought pesto was an Italian thing! #TIL...
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:43 PM on March 17, 2017


Only one person so far commented on a lack of a specific color in my outfit and I said, "My last name (O'Mara) is green enough."

St. Patrick's Day happened on my first visit to my Irish friend. When I discovered I had gone through all my green clothing and grumbled something about only having blue to wear that day, she cracked up and said, "you're in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, wearing green would be redundant."

Fucking hate American idea of celebrating St Patrick's day.

I work in New York, about two blocks from the start of the parade route. I went out on an errand to the post office about mid-day, and in the 20 minutes I was outside I saw enough people in plastic green beads, headbands with light-up bobbing shamrocks, oversized fake leprechaun hats, and "I'm Irish, Let's Get Lucky" t-shirts to come close to hitting the triple digits. I posted that statistic as a Facebook status with the hashtag "ErinGoBleah".

....however, I should admit that I am currently wearing a scarf with a Book of Kells motif.

As for how to celebrate - well, Best Bar In The World is one block up the street, and I'm torn between heading there for colcannon or making my own at home. (If anyone in NYC wants to go there, however, memail me and I'll come meet you - I live half a block away.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:45 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


I dressed in a plaid shirt with a green stripe, went to Jersey Mike's for an early lunch (This endorsement unsolicited and unpaid.), then to the grocery store, the post office (which has unaccountably removed the collection box for stamped letters), the library, another grocery store, and the letter box at the grocery store, since there is no longer one at the post office. Home by 12:15, where I intend to stay until Monday or Tuesday, depending on how the ice cream holds out.
posted by Bruce H. at 1:48 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


I took the day off of work to go yell at my senator. Everyone else at the townhall was wearing green, and I felt vaguely bad to be wearing purple, like it's evidence that I am a stealth East Coast commie and not a real, salt-of-the-earth American who wears green on St. Patrick's Day. I had painted my fingernails green, but I don't think anyone could see that. So anyway, now I have green fingernails and I have yelled at a terrible senator, which may or may not be particularly Irish but made me feel good. Now I am going to watch some Buffy and possibly put some orange dots on my green fingernails.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 2:19 PM on March 17, 2017 [7 favorites]


Well my daughter's out on the piss tonight because it's her birthday, which means Irish people are going to be buying her drinks all night.*

* In England.
posted by glasseyes at 2:28 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


One year she came home with two big green hats but she'd no idea where from.
posted by glasseyes at 2:33 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


I've been hankering after the fried cheese curds and very cold beer they pour at the bar across the street from my apartment, but I'm trying to figure out whether it would be depressing to go there by myself after work, when everyone else there will likely be drinking Jameson shots with their buddies.

It's also fish fry night (I love Wisconsin)...
posted by coppermoss at 2:59 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Waiting for the band to get here for my traditional St.Pat's gig - The Boys from the County Hell @ The Harp. Outside. On the patio. Under a tent. Which, this year, apparently means I'm getting snowed on, as the tent is not exactly weather-proof. . . .
posted by soundguy99 at 3:27 PM on March 17, 2017


I had a delightful late lunch with my work bestie who left to start her own firm, and the guy she started the firm with (and who I also used to work with). I gave them some free help over the holidays, so they decided to take me out to lunch to thank me, and what with scheduling, next thing you know, hey presto! It's St. Patty's day! The guy emigrated to the US from Ireland, and informed us that a raw oyster taken with a pint of Guinness is a very classically Irish combo.

So the friend and I spliit 6 Sugar Shacks, and 18 Kusshi's. She washed hers down with various flips. I had a housemade cream soda, and then decaf coffee.

The Irish gentleman had a salmon salad and two glasses of wine and one (1) oyster because he does not like raw oysters.
posted by joyceanmachine at 3:36 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


I am about to head out my front door for the weekly Friday night hang out in the cul-de-sac. Every Friday now for several years all the neighbors converge; it's just a given. Sometimes there's 15 of us, sometimes 3. Ages range from 7 to 70-something. When it's good weather we have a fire pit, when it's iffy we hang in the neighbor's empty garage. It's really the perfect end to the week and I look forward to it. We all bring our own drinks (mostly containing alcohol) and we just walk back home in the wee hours of the morning when we're tired (and/or tipsy and/or drunk).

I don't think we'll be doing anything special for St. Patty's Day. I didn't even think to switch up my cheap-ass beer for something properly Irish. Oh well. I think I'll play a little Flogging Molly "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" to get me in some Irish-y spirit.
posted by bologna on wry at 4:05 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


I enslaved a leprechaun and stole his inheritance.

Wouldn't that fall under the heading of "cultural appropriation"? (if you're not Irish, that is)
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:56 PM on March 17, 2017


It's my sister's birthday, so I'm celebrating Happy St.-her-birthday Day. Way better than the usual.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:01 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


All I had to do was type danny boy m for google to understand what I was looking for.
posted by moonmilk at 7:10 PM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]


I ate some macha mochi, which was green…
posted by Going To Maine at 7:12 PM on March 17, 2017


Calgary meetup! Which is not thematically Irish per se, but does involve lots of craic and modest amounts of beer.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 7:42 PM on March 17, 2017


I wished my fellow Irish Jew maxsparber a Happy St Patrick's Day and told him I liked his interview on Race Invaders. I wore green because it's Vermont and it's basically the law to wear it every day, but I also wore my orange belt because damn the man! I skipped yelling at my senator (who was in my town today but is not A&Cs senator) so that other people could either yell at home or say "good job" I think he's doing mostly okay. Maybe you've heard of him.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:33 PM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


Saint Patrick's Day is also our wedding anniversary (16 years ago this seemed like a good idea), so I celebrated by spending most of the day at my kids' school taking photos for the yearbook, the deadline for which is Monday. (Mrs. jferg refers to herself as a yearbook widow for the first half of March each year.). Then I bought dinner fixings at CostCo, and made filet, shrimp, and asparagus on the grill, and baked sweet potatoes and had a slightly classier dinner than normal. Even bribed the kids to eat it with a promise of tres leches cake after.

So, yeah.
posted by jferg at 8:41 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


A friend of mine came over to celebrate my 36th birthday. We talked while listening to music — including the Smashing Pumpkins, in honor of Billy Corgan's 50th birthday. We tried out a selection of whiskys, including one Irish whisky.
posted by John Cohen at 9:39 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Secretariat and I stopped by our favorite, closing-forever-tomorrow bottle shop to buy up a bunch of beer to help them liquidate inventory, then picked up a 22 of Guinness and some Irish sweet cheddar to snack on while we made up some cabbage soup for dinner.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:59 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


St. Patrick's Day is forever more special to me; today (yesterday) marked the one-year anniversary of my open-heart surgery. Thanks, Dr. Pillai!
posted by pjern at 10:05 PM on March 17, 2017 [8 favorites]


Secretariat and I stopped by our favorite, closing-forever-tomorrow bottle shop to buy up a bunch of beer

So then, meetup at your place this weekend with your beer and my Irish whiskey?
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:05 PM on March 17, 2017


I had the most Portland, OR, confrontation I've had in the two years I've been here. There's a snobby grocery store a couple blocks from me and since I'm so close I walk there when I'm too lazy to walk the three blocks to TJs. There's always been a shortcut into the parking lot through a plot of mud with a few plants in it.

Recently, whoever maintains the small triangle of mud put up a fence to prevent people from cutting through the tiny plot. Picture a tiny triangle of land with a fence on two sides. Now, as a pedestrian, to go to the grocery store, I have to walk on the driveway which is frequented by car drivers who don't necessarily pay attention to pedestrians.

Lately on my way home from the grocery store, I walk up into the triangle and kick the plants out of the ground. I feel like my risk of having to walk on the driveway is worse than that of the plants that no one ever tried to step on as they walked through the plot to the store or to the sidewalk.

Tonight a woman yelled at me because "the plants are living organisms" and I shouldn't be killing them. Of course I didn't have the right response off the top of my head but I had my hood up so her pics on social media aren't going to do anything.
posted by bendy at 10:38 PM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Having spent four years at Notre Dame I basically feel full up on American St. Pat's for the entire rest of my life, so I did nothing. You wouldn't think it's possible, but Peoria on St. Pat's is actually worse than South Bend, there's this giant parade that shuts down the downtown, the Catholic schools get the day off school to be in the parade, and everyone starts drinking at 9 a.m., it is unreal. At least in college people didn't start until after their morning classes! You could not PAY me to drive anywhere today.

My five-year-old had to draw a picture in a pot of gold of "what's worth more to him than gold" and he wrote "My mommy is worth more to me than gold because I love her" and drew a picture of me in my wedding dress, so awwwwwwwwww.

I did wear green, though!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 11:09 PM on March 17, 2017 [5 favorites]


We listened to nothing but Thin Lizzy. I don't care if "The Boys Are Back In Town" is overplayed, I still love it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 11:37 PM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


Every year I text a friend something along the lines of, "There's some fucking blackshirt cursing all the yids. Should I deck him? (Y/N)"

This year we got to share a video.

Ref for non-Pogues fans. But everyone's a Pogues fan on St. Patrick's day.
posted by stet at 12:52 AM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


I spent some US dollars. They were green on one side, so yay me.

Green was my favorite color when I was a child. The Army killed that, then St. Patty's Day cremated it.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:13 AM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


All I had to do was type danny boy m for google to understand what I was looking for.

I was in a women's choir my first two years in college. Our director called us her "little singing angels," and we did have a very nice blend and a rather sweet tone, though I say so myself who shouldn't.

Anyway, an a cappella arrangement of "Danny Boy" was part of our regular repertoire. Whenever we sang it, I would immediately scour the audience for young faces to focus on, because without exception, every wrinkled face would be soaked with tears by the last few bars. I knew that if I saw them lose it, I would lose it, too.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:35 AM on March 18, 2017


Having spent four years at Notre Dame I basically feel full up on American St. Pat's for the entire rest of my life, so I did nothing. You wouldn't think it's possible, but Peoria on St. Pat's is actually worse than South Bend, there's this giant parade that shuts down the downtown, the Catholic schools get the day off school to be in the parade, and everyone starts drinking at 9 a.m., it is unreal. At least in college people didn't start until after their morning classes! You could not PAY me to drive anywhere today.

I went to college in Rolla, MO - home of UMR (I refuse to call it MST, its now-official name), known as a drinking school with an engineering problem. St. Pats is a multi-day ordeal there, with the campus closing down however many days are necessary to make the 17th part of a long weekend. Let's just say I participated while I was there, but as I get older I realize just how fucked up it all was and choose not to do much to recognize St. Pats itself, at least not the way the rest of American society does.
posted by jferg at 6:42 AM on March 18, 2017


I moped about my wife going to her book club leaving me alone with the kids for like the 20th time this month. Later, a half bottle of Jameson and Waking Ned Devine.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:51 AM on March 18, 2017


I brewed a pretty competent stout for St Paddy's (if I do say so myself), which I enjoyed over a quiet evening at home because I didn't want to deal with all the special occasion drunks and once-a-year Irish on the green streets. Tonight I might take some around to friends to share.
posted by rodlymight at 8:38 AM on March 18, 2017 [5 favorites]


I made a Chocolate Guinness Cake but used a local stout instead (by Muskoka Brewery).
Holy chocolate. Turned out awesome.
posted by chococat at 9:35 AM on March 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


I seem to have spent it arguing with people on Facebook about white privilege and how it functions in various US immigrant narratives, so I'll count that.
posted by lazuli at 9:53 AM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


I made corned beef and cabbage, not because I like it or that it's even Irish, but because it's wicked cheap this time of yeah, and the mister loves it. Then I drank some beer, not because it was St Patrick's Day, but because it was Friday night and I needed something to deal with the horrible squeaky squeaky of college basketball.
posted by Ruki at 12:55 PM on March 18, 2017


to help them liquidate inventory

From now on this is how I'm always going to refer to buying stuff, no matter how the business is doing.
posted by John Cohen at 2:14 PM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


I didn't wear green and was home sick most of the day, and failed to do anything remotely as erudite as getting another chapter into Ulysses, which I have read approximately 4% of, expected completion date 2067. I did, however, have my usual stress fantasy about applying for an Irish passport (since I am apparently an Irish citizen, at least technically if not culturally).

I also ended up falling into an Always Sunny marathon online, though that was not on purpose.
posted by en forme de poire at 4:04 PM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


What's this pinching shit? I'm Irish in Ireland and never heard of it.

Dad (whose 84th birthday it was) and I spent the day in Donegal, where we're on holidays, looking out the window at the unbelievably grey mistiness. We didn't set foot outside the door all day. I had some beers and one inadequate (due to a freezer mishap) gin martini.

A practically perfect day!
posted by Samarium at 5:02 PM on March 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


Twenty four hours later, everyone survived, no one broke their ankle falling off their shoes and a good night was had dancing to 70's disco. Which is strange to them as they're that young.
To round everything off, Your Underwhelming St. Patrick's Day Photos (SLG)
posted by glasseyes at 6:46 PM on March 18, 2017


Bullies think that their victims not wearing green are fair game for pinching.
posted by brujita at 7:57 PM on March 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


I missed this because I spent St. Patrick's Day evening in the ER with some excruciatingly painful intestinal problems. The one thing that lifted my spirits was thinking about how many "probably appendicitis" questions I've read on the gteen, comforted that it definitely probably wasn't appendicitis. But if I ever get abdominal pain in the lower right quadrant I'm going straight to the ER.

(I'm a lot better today but not all clear.)
posted by Room 641-A at 9:23 PM on March 18, 2017 [5 favorites]


What's this pinching shit? I'm Irish in Ireland and never heard of it.

As far as I can see, it started as a schoolyard bully thing. Since kids here in Ireland have the day off school, the critical mass for making this meanness general was never reached.

It'll probably filter across the ocean at some point, though.
posted by Azara at 4:53 AM on March 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


What's this pinching shit? I'm Irish in Ireland and never heard of it.

For whatever reason (probably it was made popular by schoolyard bullies) it was once a U.S.A. tradition that if you were not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day, people could pinch you as a form of punishment. It's something that's on the way out now, though (I honestly never came across it even as a child).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:01 AM on March 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've never been pinched for not wearing green or seen it happen, but people make little jokes or comments about it.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 6:43 PM on March 19, 2017


This was definitely a thing in my L.A. elementary school, maybe even Jr high.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:02 PM on March 19, 2017


I grew up near Boston, and there was no shortage of Irish-Americans or of bullies, but not until this thread did I ever hear of this pinching thing. Sounds like a good way to evoke the punching thing.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:14 AM on March 20, 2017


I've never been pinched for not wearing green or seen it happen, but people make little jokes or comments about it.

Likewise, and I'm old. From central coast California, fwiw.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:46 AM on March 20, 2017


In rural Tennessee elementary school, early 80s, the whole pinching thing was real. I've been pinched and I've seen other pinching happen. I want to say that it went through high school but I could just be creating memories to fit my narrative here.

I can tell you though that Ask A Manager just got a letter about an employee that quit over pinching (posted this very day) so it's alive and well somewhere.
posted by komara at 6:48 AM on March 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


I dressed in a plaid shirt with a green stripe,

I lied about the green stripe. I was remembering another shirt that got lost in the laundry when I was in rehab.
posted by Bruce H. at 7:20 PM on March 20, 2017


That Ask a Manager story is vile! Sure, you expect it from schoolyard bullies, but even they tend to outgrow it by grade 6 or so. This manager's assistant, an Irish woman who declined to participate in the "festivities," was pinched by two grown-ass adults in the workplace (once in the butt area), quit when nobody stopped them, and now the manager wants to give her a bad reference for it? Unreal! They should be glad she's not suing.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:26 PM on March 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Huh, I really thought the pinching thing was an urban legend at this point. I made the classic mistake and read the comments to that Ask Manager column. The first commenter suggested that if she didn't want to be pinched, she should have said so.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 12:21 PM on March 21, 2017


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