Originally published March 17, 2022:

·  If you want to be in the know, avoid abbreviating the holiday to St. Patty’s Day. Patrick in the Irish language is actually Pádraig, and the name is sometimes shortened to Paddy or Pat, while Patty is generally the abbreviation of Patricia. An acceptable alternative is St. Paddy’s Day.

·  St. Patrick himself wasn’t Irish. Scholars believe he was born in present day Great Britain with many of the belief the specific birthplace was Wales.

·  St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival.

·  The biggest celebrations outside of Ireland are in Chicago (where they dye the Chicago River green for the holiday) and New York City.

·  Nearly 32 million Americans are of Irish ancestry. The population of Ireland is currently around 5 million.

·  Yes, everything has temporarily gone green. In addition to the famous Shamrock Shake, which has been a staple at McDonald’s around this time of year since the 1970s, fast food businesses including Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery, Applebee’s, and Costco celebrate the holiday with special offerings.

·  The Irish government considers the holiday a bank holiday or a public holiday (the equivalent of a Federal holiday in the U.S.) and this year the government is also making the day after the St. Patrick’s Day a Bank Holiday so that people can celebrate without fear.

·   “The fear” is Irish slang for a hangover.

Now that you’re equipped with the gift of gab about the holiday (without having to even kiss the Blarney Stone!) you can celebrate a different kind of fear by watching Jennifer Anniston in Leprechaun, or you can groove along to The Commitments, or raise a fist and a pint to Michael Collins. Whatever you choose, there are plenty of films based on Ireland and (in Leprechaun’s case, some hysterical interpretation of) Irish culture to mainline today.