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This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 78: “What Is St. Patrick’s Day: Learn to Spot an Irish Person in Boston and New York.”

Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation with your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,’ from Boston, USA.

In this bonus Friday episode, we’re gonna (going to) talk about why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day here in the US and what you can do to really enjoy the day.

Hey Gabby.

Hey Lindsay. How’s it going?

What’s happening?

Not much. Did you know that Monday, the 17th, is a special holiday?

Really? What’s happening?

Well not like a holiday where there’s no work or no school.

man.

But it’s a fun, cultural holiday, St.Patrick’s Day.

St. Patty’s (Patrick’s) Day. All right.

Yeah. St. Patty’s (Patrick’s) Day. So here in Boston and in New York, (uh), it’s a big deal culturally. Why, why do people like to celebrate it so much here?

Yeah. (I mean) just – we have a lot of people with an Irish heritage here in the US, right?

Yeah.

Especially in Massachusetts. So there’s about 23% of (um) people in Massachusetts have an Irish heritage. So that’s interesting.

Yeah. So if you guys are interested in history (um) this is because a lot of Irish people came to Boston and New York in the (like) 1800s, I’m not – don’t quote me on this but when Ireland had the potato famine (um) people, they, they immigrated here to Boston and New York (um) in pretty large numbers and, and we have some, some famous people who are Irish too. (Like) in Boston, we have the (um) John F. Kennedy tour.

Oh yeah, that’s right.

I went on that with some of my students.

Oh, interesting.

And it actually starts at the Irish Famine Memorial downtown.

Oh. Cool, cool, cool.

And then – yeah, we learned about the Kennedy family because they are Irish.

Right.

Right.

Right. Good point.

Yeah. So, (um), so it’s a really big (uh) event in Boston. I know there’s a huge parade, so…

Really huge parade.

…if you happen to be in the US, especially if you can come to Boston or to New York…

…go to a parade.

Definitely. And – so – and another way to kind of spot an Irish person…

Yeah.

…to know that someone’s Irish or celebrating St. Patty’s (Patrick’s) Day, is they might be going around with green beer.

Green beer. Well, yeah if, if you’re in a bar.

Yeah right.

Because we can’t, we can’t drink on the street.

That’s right.

But yeah, (um), beer gets colored green.

Yes. (It) doesn’t actually seem that delicious when it’s green to me.

I’ve never tried it. (Um), but yeah, (I mean) that, that’s a good point.

There’s a lot of drinking on St. Patrick’s Day. A lot of drinking of beer.

Right.

It’s – I don’t know why it’s a cultural thing, but people just like to do that. Yeah, I guess it’s just a part of the culture.

Yeah. So what, what can you expect on St. Patrick’s Day? Green, the color green.

Green everywhere. People will wear green.

Yeah.

Green jewelry, green accessories, green shirts, green shoes.

If you don’t wear green, some people might pinch you. They might, (you know), grab, grab your – how, how do you explain a pinch? They like…

Oh my god. Grab your skin and…

With two fingers.

Tightly.

Yeah.

And it hurts. Well I’ve never been pinched and I usually don’t wear green.

Oh, oh. Okay. Well maybe this is something from school I remember.

Maybe.

So the color green comes from the four-leaf clover, which is the symbol of St. Patty’s (Patrick’s) Day. Also the symbol of the basketball team from Boston, the Celtics…

Yes. Good point.

…that’s their logo. And (um) if you’re into history, the four leaf clover symbol came from St. Patrick who was explaining the (um), the, the Catholic, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. (Um) that was the clover.

Clovers usually have three leaves. So the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost from the Catholic religion, he was trying to explain this to (um), to people in Ireland.

And then a four-leaf clover is just something lucky because it’s very rare to find a four-leaf clover. So (I) hope that makes sense historically. That goes together. St. Patrick was (um) alive in (like) five or six hundred (um) – yeah, a long time ago. Like, like 1500 years ago.

Okay.

In Ireland, so if you’re a history buff, (you know), look it, look that up.

Yeah. So Boston – just to kind of sum up – Boston is a great place to be if you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. And if you are here in Boston or New York and you want to really get a real flavor of American culture, now go to the parade.

The parade is held in South Boston, (um), here in Boston and you’ll just party with the Irish.

Yeah. Totally. And if you’re not in Boston or you can’t make it, (um) to a parade, have a St. Patty’s (Patrick’s) Day party at your place or at your local bar, restaurants, or establishment, wherever, (you know).

Just make sure to wear green, (um), maybe eat green foods or drinks or… 447

Green baked goods or something

Eat Irish food.

(Um) and I don’t know, watch the Celtics.

Just take part in the, in the celebration.

Yeah. Yeah. Great.

And have a good time.

Yeah. Cool.

Thanks guys.

Enjoy.

Hey Lindsay. I heard that (um) one of your students was talking about the transcripts.

Yeah. So (um) a student of mine in Spain was saying that he is really a visual learner, so he needs to not only listen to All Ears English every day, but he also needs to see the words.

Yeah, that’s really helpful, I think for a lot of people to read as they listen. So yeah, we wanted to remind you that we have the transcripts available at our website, www.allearsenglish.com/conversations. And the transcripts are just the text of what you’re hearing.

Yeah, just every word that we’re saying spelled out for you, so there are no secrets. You’ll know exactly what you’re saying, we’re saying. So come on over.

If you want to put your ears into English more often, be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time.