Being Irish-American is pretty cool.  Stereotypes include: being able to both tell and to take a joke; being able to hold your liquor like a linebacker even if you're a pipsqueak; having a positive outlook; and being made of tough stock.  Last week at the post office, a man told the following joke: What is 1/2 mile long and has an IQ of 77?  Answer: A St. Patrick's Day Parade.  For those of you who didn't have a St. Patty's Day joke ready...you're welcome.  For those of you who are Irish, well, so am I, and I still had to laugh.  (Remember that stereotype about being able to take a joke?)  My family was not particularly attached to our Irish roots (I'm a bit of an anglo-mixed-bag with Irish, German, and English blood), but we still had Irish songs that were sung at bedtime that were passed down from my grandfather to my father to me.  All families have those quirky sayings and things that they do that contain the residue of the generations that came from a time "before," it's just that some of those leftovers stand out more than others.  We don't realize what those little things are until we step outside of our families and find those elements lacking in others... or we hear someone say something that sounds exactly like something our grandparents would say.  I found an example of this in an interview with Colum McCann a few weeks ago.  Entertainment Weekly asked him whether he reads his own books post-publication.   He said, "No, no, no, never.  There's a great Irish phrase: "I'd rather go home and iron me leg."  Yep.  Sounds like something my uncles would say.  Remember, everyone's Irish on St. Patty's Day.  May the luck of the Irish be with you!