Marcus Campbell wants to do away with St. Patty’s Day. And it’s not the parades, the step dancing, the dyed-green waterways or even the verdantly bland beer to which he objects. Nor has he any beef (corned or otherwise) with pausing to venerate Ireland’s patron each March 17, or even with the ludicrous extremes to which that pursuit has been known to be taken in North American cities and college towns.

No, it’s the P-A-T-T-Y spelling that drives the Ontario-born and Vancouver-based web developer, raised in Northern Ireland, to distraction — and, notably, unlike others similarly afflicted — to action.

As his half-decade-old website and Twitter feed are at pains to spell out, the nickname for St. Patrick — if, for whatever reason, one must be used — should always be rendered P-A-D-D-Y, because the D’s descend from the Irish spelling of the name: Pádraig. And Campbell has set himself the task of converting a populace that is by turns innocently mystified by the correct spelling and aggressively resistant to it. A few recent examples that amble along that spectrum:

Campbell — who’s also fairly exercised about the frequent appearance of four-leaved clovers where shamrocks are intended, thus missing St. Patrick’s metaphorical point, and is less mirthfully offended by the Irish Car Bomb libation — took a break last week, even as Paddy Not Patty’s activity level spiked toward its annual apex, to answer MarketWatch’s questions about his semithankless labors, how he measures his success and whether there’s any money in it.

MarketWatch: Why’d you initially decide to take up the cause?

“ ‘It’s such a tiny thing — a couple of wee letters — but that’s why it’s so infuriating.’ ” — Marcus Campbell, PaddyNotPatty.com

Marcus Campbell:Living in Ireland, especially before the Internet was widespread, it was very easy to live blissfully unaware. I mean, we all knew St. Patrick’s Day was a much bigger deal in North America, with all its green beer, plastic hats, parade floats and what-have-you. I don’t think any Irish person really understands just how ubiquitous this “Patty” malarkey is unless they become expats (no pun intended). Once February rolls around, it’s constantly in your face, giving you the evil eye from every club flyer, bar window, storefront, newspaper and TV report. It’s such a tiny thing — a couple of wee letters — but that’s why it’s so infuriating. If folk want to celebrate the man, the country or their heritage and are eager to be so folksy and colloquial about it, can they not just get his name right? You’d never hear of a Patrick in Ireland being called Patty. It’s really as simple as that.

MW: When and how did you start your online crusade, and what’s your approach today?

M.C.:Whether or not it was the lack of sleep, being a fairly green father to an 18-month-old, I saw one “Patty” too many in 2010 and finally cracked a week before St. Patrick’s Day. Within hours I had a domain registered, a rant thrown together and a Twitter TWTR, +2.03% account set up. It felt good, even if it was only shouting into the void. Except it wasn’t a void: It didn’t take long at all before thousands of like-minded souls joined in.

With a tweak or two here or there and a fresh lick of paint every year, that’s pretty much how it has stood for the last five years. I fire up the Twitter account a month before the day and take up arms each year. I’ve built up a collection of Twitter and Google searches over the years, so it’s actually a lot easier keeping on top of the horde than it might seem at first glance.

At the start I was pointing fingers left, right and center, but in recent years I’ve been trying to highlight the most visible offenders: “Irish” theme pubs, dyed-green events and the media. I try to keep in mind that it’s usually an error of ignorance, not spite.

“ ‘It all adds up, one snake whacked at a time.’ ” — Marcus Campbell

MW: Do you feel you’re making progress, or is your mission as Sisyphean as it seems?

M.C.:It’s the wee things that make it seem worthwhile. Like the liquor stores here switching from using a “St. Patty” and four-leaf clover one year to a “St. Patrick” and three-leaf shamrock the next. A year or two ago, one of those St. Patrick’s Day 10K runs did the decent thing and rebranded themselves, thanks to a poke in the right direction. It all adds up, one snake whacked at a time.

Don’t get me wrong: There are still torrents of people using “Patty” because they don’t know better — bless them — but I believe we’re headed in the right direction.

MW: What’s Paddy Not Patty’s reach? Any thoughts of “monetizing” it?

M.C.:Well, the Twitter account has 2,200 followers [as of last Wednesday — rising another 14% by St. Patrick’s Day afternoon], but bear in mind that many sympathizers can’t even bear to follow the @paddynotpatty account, and the heinous examples I retweet, for very long. Fallen to the cause. The site itself has about 190,000 likes on Facebook FB, -0.89% [a figure that above 201,000 by Tuesday], 5,000 on Pinterest and received about 300,000 hits over the season last year.

I’m extremely wary of trying to squeeze money out of it, because that’s a good way to ensure people pay no attention to the cause. Apart from my time, the costs are minimal, and the time I put into it feels good. If the American Dream is to be successful, the Irish Dream is give your head some peace.

A good few followers have been asking for posters, T-shirts and the like. I haven’t acted on it yet, but it seems like a decent idea. It’s not the stuff of fortunes. I’ve also considered collecting donations for ad buys and parade sponsorships. Last year I bought a few Google GOOGL, -2.41% ads on my own dime; this year I’m having a go at sponsored tweets on Twitter.

MW: Any particular favorites among the “Patty” transgressions or among responses to Paddy Not Patty’s retweets, mentions and other constructive criticism?

M.C.:Oh, aye, my absolute favorites are smart-arses that think Paddy is actually wrong and try to call out their friends with, “I hate people writing Paddy! He wasn’t Saint Padrick!”

“ ‘There isn’t a sinner in Ireland that would refer to a Patrick as Patty. It’s as simple as that.’ ” — PaddyNotPatty.com

Another trusty favorite is, “This is America, and we’ll call it what we want!” I almost get a tear in my eye from the secondhand patriotism and its rockets’ red glare. If you don’t care about offending the Irish, you should ask yourself what exactly it is you are celebrating. Booze can be celebrated every day, with or without dressing up as a leprechaun and inflicting terrible accents on the rest of us.

Imagine you went to Ireland for the Fourth of July and you see that everyone is waving around the flag of Liberia and drinking cocktails called “Boston Pressure Cookers.” How many years would you last before you say something?

Given Campbell’s manifold misgivings about how the feast day is marked in the New World, it’s perhaps surprising that he expresses a willingness to enter the belly of the beast one of these Marches — with full cognizance that doing so could mean fording a stream of sick just to witness an all-day parade that seems to run on infinite loop and is as likely as not to have been hijacked by local, national and even international politicians.

“Hopefully, I’ll make it to Chicago or New York some St. Patrick’s Day,” he says, “just to experience the madness firsthand.”