Yanks thinking that when we're saying "Paddy", we're actually saying "Patty", because the way we pronounce the former is how they pronounce the latter. It's the equivalent of when people write "could of" because they have heard people say "could've" and don't know the difference.
It's also because Patty/Pattie is short for Patricia and about a thousand times more common to hear in everyday usage in America than Paddy ever will be. So, even though they know that "St. Paddy" is derived from "St. Patrick," they'll always spell it as "St. Patty" because it's the spelling they're familiar with.
It's not really the same as "could of" since that's just wrong in any context. This mostly just comes from the fact that "Patty" is the only word that sounds like that in regular use in America (where you're talking about a burger or a Patricia).
Since Padraig/Padraic isn't really used in the States either I imagine no one associates the letter D with the name Patrick at all, so spelling it Patty is fairly logical, even though it's wrong.
This whole thread confused the shit out of me until I learned Padraic is a name. I didn't understand how Paddy is short for Patrick but Patty isn't. Thanks!
Just to add for those who don't know and to help expand on your point; Guillaume is the name that later became William in English which is similar to the unfamiliar speakers interpretation. Guillaume le Conquerant = William The Coqueror. The 'Gu' in french was subtituted with a 'W' at some stage following the Norman invasion. This is why today we have words like 'Guarantee/ Warantee' and 'Guard/Ward' which are so similar in meaning.
Wasn't William the Conqueror called Willgem (or something similar) in the Bayeux Tapestry which is where the first translation of Guillaume to William began?
In some parts of ireland. It's my middle name and I pronounce it like paw-drig. As does Padraig Harrington. And it's more like paw-rick than poorig if you're pronouncing it the other way
People have called this guy by 'pod rick' 'pad raig' and other combinations because everyone is American and he's from Ireland. He had corrected everyone every time with Poorig. Most likely dialect.
To Americans Paddy doesn't parse as a name at all because it's simply not used as a nickname for Patrick, or as a name in its own right.
That's fine. And I can understand that. But we're not talking about how they should use "St. Paddy's Day" instead of "St. Patrick's Day". I can get how they can't get there from there. But *patty"!
The Americans are aware that "paddy" is related to Irish people, "paddywagon" is a slang for a police car.
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u/OppressedCardboard Mar 13 '16
Legitimate question. Where did the whole "Patty" thing come from? The origin of it, I mean.