May the 4th Be With You?
Today, we mark National Star Wars Day, where we mis-speak the common phrase, "May the Force Be With You" to tell everyone the current date.
To be completely honest with you all, I have never watched any of the movies. Not a single one. People in college would show me clips and whatnot, but a lot of my Star Wars exposure is watching baseball games on TV and seeing Darth Vader in the ballpark on Star Wars Day for whichever team I am watching.
The "May the Fourth Be With You" doesn't actually go back to Star Wars, though. Something I use all the time, the National Day Calendar, tells me that this started in the London Evening News on May 4, 1979. The first use was to congratulate Margaret Thatcher on becoming the first female British prime minister. The ad read, "May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations."
Another instance of that quote was a misinterpretation of a German interview with George Lucas. But now, it comes up as a holiday every year. I enjoy a good play on words as much as anybody, so I may watch a ballgame that Darth Vader throws out a first pitch for tonight.