Was St. Patrick really Italian and not Irish?
Every year I do a post on St. Paddy to bust the gooluines of all my Irish friends that still believe St. Paddy was Irish. Excerpts of this are from a post I did 4 years ago.
Most probably this is going to really piss off a lot of the staunch, devoted Irishmen to find out after all these years that they have been worshiping St. Patrick as their patron saint, assuming he was Irish, only to find out Patty boy was really an Italian. Ma Ma Mia!!
I know Bill O’Reilly will be shaken to the core.
Answer.com
Yes, Saint Patrick was Italian by heritage. His parents, Calphurnius and Conchessa, were Roman (Italian) citizens living in Britain, most likely Scotland. Calpurnius, Patrick’s father, was a high Roman diplomat living in England, but a Roman citizen.
His area was captured at one point by the Irish and he was forced into slavery. At 21 years old, he escaped slavery. He made his way back to Rome to find that most of the Roman empire had been lost. After some time he felt that God was calling him back to Ireland. He spent 10 years in France studying religion when the Pope (Celestine) made him a Bishop. He later became known as the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated every March 17.
As the legend goes; what St Patrick was really renowned or famous for was driving all the snakes from Ireland.
I hope this revelation that Paddy was Italian does not send some Irish people over the edge and cause them to do something foolish and drink a couple cases of Stout.
So my dear Irish friends; top of the morning to you all, Erin go Bragh, bottoms up and do not despair, we still love you.
I will leave you with a few old school Irish slangs for your enlightenment.
Word or phrases of Irish slang:
| Word or phrase | Example | Meaning |
| Acting the maggot | He was just acting the maggot as usual | Behaving foolishly, annoyingly |
| Bags | He made a bags of doing it | Messy inadequate job (see names) |
| Banjaxed | It was banjaxed beyond all help | Broken, can also mean tired |
| Bold | You are a very bold boy | Naughty |
| Crack, craic | We had great craic that night | Hard to translate, roughly meaning fun |
| Culchies | The culchies were all over the place | Rural people, usually used disparagingly by city people |
| Cute hoor | I always knew he was a cute hoor | Untrustworthy male person, often a politician |
| Desperate | The place is in a desperate state | Bad, needing attention |
| Drawers | Her drawers were the size of Cork | Knickers, panties |
| Eat the head off | I’ll eat the head off her | Attack verbally |
| Eejit | You’re a right eejit | Idiot, fool |
| Fair play | Fair play to you | Indicates approval of someone’s actions or opinions |
| Feck | Feck off, fecking thing, feck-all | Polite(-ish) version of other F word |
| Fella | Come here young fella | Male person, also used for boyfriend |
| Flitters | The dog left the shirt in flitters | Tatters |
| Fluthered | He was fluthered again | Drunk |
| Foostering | Just foostering about | Not getting much done, fussing |
| Full shilling | He’s not the full shilling | Mentally competent |
| Gas | We had a bit of gas that day | Fun, enjoyment |
| Giving out | The teacher was always giving out to the class | Scolding. |
| Gob | He never shuts his gob | Mouth |
| Gobdaw | That fella’s a right gobdaw | Fool, idiot |
| Gom | You’re just acting the gom | Fool, idiot |
| Guff | Don’t give me any of your guff | Idle talk or excuses |
| Gur | He’s been on gur since Saturday | Staying away from home, usually a child |
| Hames | You made a terrible hames of that | Messy inadequate job (see bags) |
| Header | Keep away from that header | Mentally unstable person |
| Holliers | Two weeks holliers for me | Holidays, vacation time |
| Holy show | You made a holy show of yourself | Spectacle |
| Hop | He’s been on the hop since Tuesday | Playing truant from school |
| Horse’s hoof | That’s a bit of a horse’s hoof I think | Spoof, exaggerated story |
| Hump off | Would you ever hump off? | Go away, leave me alone |
| Jackeens | The jackeens think they’re smart | Dublin person, usually used disparagingly by culchies |
| Jacks | I’m just off to the jacks | Toilet, restroom |
| Jaded | We’re all jaded after it | Tired, exhausted |
| Kibosh | He put the kibosh on it | Added the last straw, completely banjaxed something |
| Langered/Langers | We were all langers | Drunk |
| Letting on | I was just letting on | Pretending |
| Mary Hick | That dress is really Mary Hick | Unfashionable, drab |
| Messages | I have to get the messages | Groceries |
| Mooching | He’s mooching again for money | Sponging, almost begging |
| Mot | Have you got a mot? | Girlfriend |
| One | Some oul’ one told her | Female person |
| Pictures | Want to come to the pictures? | Movies, Cinema |
| Puck | He got a puck in the gob | Sharp blow |
| Puss | She’d a right puss on her | Face, usually sulky |
| Reddener | She took a reddener when she saw him | Blush (see Scarlet) |
| Reef | I’ll reef him when I see him | Attack, non-verbal |
| Scarlet | I’m scarlet for you | Blushing, often in sympathy with a friend’s reddener |
| Scratcher | He’s always in the scratcher | Bed |
| Scrawbed | Her face was all scrawbed | Scratched by fingernails |
| Shook | He was very shook looking | Pale, ill, scared |
| Slagging | I’m only slagging you | Making fun of someone, generally good-naturedly |
| Sleeveen | She’s a bit of a sleeveen | Sly person, calculating |
| Stocious | He was stocious this evening | Drunk |
PUT-EM UP
We are not really certain if PUT-EM UP is really Irish.
Without the immigrants like the Irish, Italians and the rest of the well-intended people that crossed the pond to the USA in the late 1800 – early 1900, bringing with them the solid traditions they were raised with in the old country, the USA would never be the country it is today.
I would love to see some of those OLD SCHOOL traditions come back. They are what made our country great.
In those days, before the insanity took hold in this world, the initials PC stood for Pasta Carbonara.
The Goomba Gazette 
Reblogged this on Brittius and commented:
(A) Born in Italy: http://www.history.com/news/st-patricks-day-myths-debunked
(B) Romans invented kilt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_kilt
(C) Romans invented Bagpipes: http://www.bagpipehistory.info/ireland.shtml
(D) Romans invented Firefighting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_firefighting
Romans were in Ireland and England, and both those peoples loved the Roman way of life and adapted it. I marched in several St. Patrick’s Day Parades in NYC. It’s not what is green or beer or boiled potatoes. What counts is what’s in a person’s heart.
Mr. B
I would drink to that if I still drank.
The Europeans that put their lives on the line when they crossed the pond for a better life are definitely the people that set the standards for the way we USED to live. Sad to say, we will never see those traditions after my generation gets the lid slammed in our faces.