While we shorten St Patrick's Day to Paddy's day, we also seem to have no problem shortening another holiday's name to x-mas.

Of the people who celebrate Paddy's day around me, I'd say maybe 1/4 even care a tiny bit about Irish or Irish culture. It's about an excuse to get drunk. Also see Cinco de Mayo.

For the green beer, that's bad enough. But what gets me is when Budwieser and the like start putting shamrocks on their signs, and declare themselves the "offical" beer of the day. Meh.