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Famous Irish Americans The talented and driven people of Ireland have contributed so much to the to world. Below are a select few Irish Americans that have left their mark their respective fields of work or history. U.S. Presidents: Joseph Biden (VP) James Buchanan Bill Clinton Ulysses S. Grant Andrew Jackson John F. Kennedy William McKinley Richard Nixon James K. Polk Ronald Reagan Woodrow Wilson Music & Dance: Mariah Carey Rosemary Clooney Judy Collins Billy Corgan Chris Cornell Bing Crosby Jimmy Dorsey Tommy Dorsey Michael Flatley James Hetfield Gene Kelly Tim McGraw TV & Film: Gracie Allen James Cagney George Clooney Walt Disney Errol Flynn John Ford Judy Garland Mel Gibson Alfred Hitchcock Ron Howard John Huston Buster Keaton Diane Keaton Grace Kelly Kevin Kline Michael Moore Bill Murray Conan O'Brien Rosie O'Donnell Gregory Peck Regis Philbin Tyrone Power Martin Sheen Ed Sullivan Spencer Tracy John Wayne Arts & Letters: Nellie Bly Jimmy Breslin William F. Buckley Jr. Raymond Chandler Kate Chopin Tom Clancy Pat Conroy Maureen Dowd Dominick Dunne James T. Farrell F. Scott Fitzgerald William Harnett Mary Higgins Clark Henry James Frank McCourt Margaret Mitchell Peggy Noonan Flannery O'Connor Georgia O'Keeffe Eugene O'Neill Bill O'Reilly Anna Quindlen Augustus Saint-Gaudens Sports: John McEnroe Tom Brady Jimmy Connors Ed Delahanty Ben Hogan  Connie Mack John McEnroe Mark McGwire Danica Patrick Nolan Ryan Sam Snead Ed Walsh Other Notables: Daniel Berrigan Phillip Berrigan William Brennan Molly Brown (Margaret Tobin Brown) Pierce Butler John Carroll Eileen Collins Michael Collins Henry Ford John Joseph Hughes Herb Kelleher Anthony Kennedy Billy the Kid (William Henry McCarty) Tom Monaghan Charles Townes John Walsh Jack Welch    Fun Beer Facts About 4000 years ago, it was the accepted practice in Babylonia that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calender was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know to day as the "Honey moon" Before invention of the thermometer, brewers used to check the temperature by dipping their thumb, to find whether appropriate for adding Yeast. Too hot, the yeast would die. This is where we get the phrase " The Rule of the Thumb" In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender used to yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. From where we get "mind your own P's and Q's". After consuming a vibrant brew called Aul or Ale, the Vikings would go fearlessly to the battlefield, without their armor, or even their shirts. The "Berserk" means "bear shirt" in Norse, and eventually to the meaning of wild battles. Way down in 1740, the Admiral Veron of the British fleet decided to water down the navy's rum, which naturally, the sailors weren't pleased with. They nicknamed the Admiral Old Grog, after the still stiff grogram coats he used to wear. The term grog soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you are drunk on this this grog, you are "groggy", a word still in use. Long ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim of their beer mugs or ceramic/glass cups. The whistle was used to order services. Thus we get the phrase, "wet your whistle".    Paddy spies a letter lying on his doormat. It says on the envelope "DO NOT BEND". Paddy spends the next 2 hours trying to figure out how to pick the bloody thing up.         An Irish Family Tradition Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday. On that special day, they'd each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.  So when Paddy's 18th birthday came 'round, he and his pal Mick, took a boat out to the middle of  the lake, Paddy, stepped out of the boat...and nearly drowned! Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety.  Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother.  "Grandma," he asked, "It's my 18th birthday, so why can't I walk 'cross the lake like my father, his father, and his father before him?" Granny looked deeply into Paddy's troubled brown eyes and said, "Because your father, your grandfather and your great grandfather were all born in December, when the lake is frozen, and you were born in August, ya dip!"        Good Luck Omens to Look for on St. Patrick's Day 1. You find a four-leaved clover while removing belly-button lint from your navel. 2. Green water is flowing uncontrollably from all water outlets in your home. 3. You notice a leprechaun's bloody shoe in your dog's mouth. 4. You hear an echoed voice saying "Manly, yes, but I like it too" while you're showering. 5. You follow a rainbow to its end and find a pot of steamin' hot Cheez Whiz. 6. During breakfast, you realize that Lucky Charms truly are "magically delicious." 7. Someone has replaced the water in your fish tank with green beer, resulting in loud, drunken, unruly fish singing "Oh, Danny Boy" at the top of their gills. 8. You find a patch of four-leaved clovers growing in your sock drawer. 9. You receive junk mail addressed to O'Current Resident. 10. You have cornered a wet, shivering, frightened leprechaun in your laundry room and are taunting him, saying "Do you feel lucky... Punk?"    You Might be a Leprechaun if...  You snicker uncontrollably all through "Darby O'Gill And The Little People."  Their record collection is stocked only with very short artists -- Paula Abdul, Sheena Easton, Prince, Phil Collins.  You get jumpy every time friends ask you if you can cover them for lunch.  When you see a rainbow, you get a greedy little look in your eye. (Arrrr, there's me pot o' gold!)  In your cupboard -- nothing but Lucky Charms cereal.  Every time you get your paycheck, you convert it into gold coins and bury it somewhere. You insist on dancing a jig on your way to work each morning to the embarrassment of all your friends.  You've been under a rock for the past few years.  You just despise fairies. ("Wing Envy" if you ask me!)   You try to pick up women by saying "Ah, lassie, you have dazzling kneecaps, you do."  When drunk, you discourse endlessly on shoes, and annoy folks by saying things like "How can ye not know what a grommet is, lad? You're wearing several on yer feet! What are ye, dumb?"   Around St. Patrick's Day, you stock up on Shamrock Shakes at McDonald's.  When you say something is "magically delicious," it really is.  And the number one way you can tell you might be a Leprechaun:  You're three feet tall, Irish, have red hair, cuss, drink and wear green a lot!

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