It’s an easy mistake to make, and you may not even be able to hear the difference when spoken, but the correct abbreviation for St. Patrick’s Day is St. Paddy’s Day, not St. Patty’s Day.
The difference bothered one man, Marcus Campbell, enough that he even created PaddyNotPatty.com to help spread the word. You may be wondering why the slightly different spellings matter, and it all comes down to the name. Paddy is a derivative of the Irish version of the name Patrick: Pádraig. Whereas Patty is used as a nickname for Patricia, or another word for a burger!
Reactions to Patty are mixed. Some, like Mr. Campbell, have made a mission of correcting people on the distinction. And though you may still get some eye-rolls or a light ribbing from your Irish friends for using Patty, plenty of others are unbothered by the mistake. Wherever you fall, you can at least now be part of the crowd in the know and have a new bit of trivia to share!
