I asked my girl. She confessed she'd never heard of it before.
When i turned to my work colleagues for further insight, they looked at me baffled.
Had i honestly made up the tradition as a kid to satisfy my young sadistic mind?
So i did what any self respecting modern citizen would do. I took my query to the Interfog. The only thing that remotely served as an answer was this entry on WikiAnswers:
"Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle. Green is traditionally worn on St. Patrick's day to honor the Emerald Isle. Tradition holds that on that day, people who do not wear green are pinched as a reminder to wear green to honor the Emerald Isle. "
To be honest, that answer hardly cleared up whether i'd fashioned my own response to those young girls in elementary school who didn't show up wearing green on March 17th. I turn to you readers to avail me of your own experiences with the day of emeraldization.
Growing up, i looked forward to two days more than any others for going to school: St. Patty's day and April Fool's. I spent the majority of the four months leading up to the First of April planning my cavalcade of pranks, whereas i ran around all day on the Seventeenth of March pinching every little girl in sight (and yes, for the record, i'd pinch even if they were wearing green, and feign that i was color blind). And to think what trouble i'd get in now if i reinstated that rule...
Slainte, everyone.
13 comments:
St. Patrick's Day has always been a fun day for me. When little, it was the best day at school because i could touch the boys and have the boys touch me and it was not forbidden. Sometimes the only green i wore (in my later years) were my panties.. but i only did this so i could show just a hint to tease the boys.
Truly a wonderful playful day deity sir.
~pink
All the boys pinched us in elementary school on St. Patty's Day. I think your friends are playing an (early) April Fool's joke on you by telling you they don't remember.
I've always remembered to wear green since I was a little girl, I thought everyone knew that tradition!
It makes me smile to picture you gleefully pinching girls throughout your day.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and your girl!
my ex mother-in-law abides by that tradition. i'd never heard of it before her. her son tells me he'd be sure to wear something green to bed so he wouldn't get pinched first thing in the morning.
happy pinching. :)
I too grew up with the tradition of a pinch for those without green on St. Patrick's Day. It has been several years since I have noticed anyone exercising that prerogative.
While I can confirm the existence of the tradition, I cannot speak to your motivations. However, I have read here enough that I can well imagine.
*giggles*
If I got pinched anyway, I would always have to pinch back. I had to stick up for myself..Guess I was just fiesty that way. :-/
I always wear green on March 17th, whether it is obvious or not. ;-D
not having the most supportive nor nuturing mother in the world, I personally hated St. Patrick's Day. My mother would never remind me to wear green, and I would be pinched mercilessly throughout the day. I never saw it as a flirtation - I always saw it as a way for children to be cruel.
this is why I hate to be pinched and pinching is a hard limit for me to this very day....
I vividly remember the tradition of being pinched also. Maybe the times have changed.
Hugs, elle
Well, for the record, I remember that "rule" as well, though I don't remember very many people partaking of such liberties, even when I was a wee tot. *Shrugs*
Never heard of it. But then there were only maybe 5 non-Jewish kids in my (public) elementary school, so what did we know about St. Patrick's Day? That was decades before I developed my very fatal attraction to Irish Catholics.
I am sure that the sadist would have subjected me to much worse than pinches if I'd been with him on St. Patrick's Day. Although I shouldn't downplay the agony I suffer when he pinches my nipples...
pink,
naughty, naughty. green panties?
sera,
it could also be that i live in a city where you really only wear green if you are in fact Irish (which i am not).
sunny,
thank you for your kind wishes. it's a funny tradition but nonetheless a tradition.
baby girl,
what is it with mother's pinching their boys? mine did it too.
David,
Shouldn't we bring it back?
redd,
pinch back? even if it was an earned pinch?
cutesy,
so sorry to hear that. pinching can have that affect for sure.
elle,
political correctness? it's a harmless little strategem.
ariel,
missed opportunities...
o.g.,
i think that is what is operating with my colleagues. it's very ethnic in our city.
you? harmless? ... that's the funniest thing i've heard all day.
=)
hugs, elle
*Laughs*
It was most certainly not deserved in my grade school days, though it was all good fun in a Hienlien's Razor sort of way. Just because they claimed to not know better didn't mean they should get away with it. ;-)
How does one earn a pinch when one is in compliance with the requisite dress code of the day?
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