Ten Interesting Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick's Day is this weekend and we all know we'll be drinking from the time we wake up until we pass out involuntarily for consuming more alcohol than any human body was meant to handle! read these 10 facts before you get sloshed and spout them off on this heavily lubricated day to a crowd of people that probably won't be able to remember their own names much less understand you!

#1.)  ST. PATRICK wasn't Irish.  He was born in either Scotland or Wales, and was brought to Ireland as a slave. And green wasn't originally his color, it was BLUE!!

#2.)  You know what else isn't Irish?  "Danny Boy".  It was written by an English songwriter named Frederick Weatherly . . . he set it to an Irish melody called "Londonderry Air".

#3.)  Also, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" was written by two Americans.

#4.)  St. Patrick's name wasn't Patrick.  It was actually Maewyn.  And the holiday marks his DEATH, not his birthday.

#5.)  America is way more Irish than Ireland.  There are approximately 36 million Americans with Irish ancestors.  The population of Ireland is about 4.5 million.

#6.)  1% of all the beer in the WORLD is consumed on St. Patrick's Day.

#7.)  Guinness sees the biggest boost of any individual beer on St. Patrick's Day.  On the average day, people worldwide drink 5.5 million pints of Guinness . . . on St. Patrick's Day, it jumps to at least 13 million pints.

#8.)  America's bar tab on Sunday will be approximately $245 MILLION.

#9.)  Americans are in the middle of a new love affair with Irish whiskey.  Sales of Irish whiskey are up 400% since 2002.  They've even jumped 22.5% in the past 12 months.

#10.)  Approximately 133 million American adults . . . or 56.3% of the adult population . . . will celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year.  And 84% will wear green.

How bout an eleventh fact? The Irish name 'Seamus' (Shame-us) is actually the equivalent of our 'James', which I guess makes me henceforth known as 'Keith Seamus'... I've got a Scottish heritage (close enough?) but I'll take some Irish too!