[Ads-l] Star Wars Day -- May the Fourth Be With You

Sat May 6 15:42:27 UTC 2023

Excellent citation, Bill.
On May 3, 1984 an advertisement for a club in England employed the pun
and referred to Star Wars Day. I just found this match in the
newspapers.com database, but Peter Reitan had already clipped it two
days ago. The clipping says "May the Force", but the festivities were
continuing into May 4th. The "aarggh" signals that the creator of the
advertisement knew that the pun was groan-worthy.

Date: May 3, 1984
Newspaper: Burton Mail
Newspaper Location: Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
Article: (Advertisement for fashion show at club)
Quote Page 17, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/burton-mail/124066069/

[Begin excerpt]
At around 11 pm its our stylish Alternative Fashion Show and let super
Cool DJ Malc Rex Byrd take you into Star Wars Day: May the Force be
with you (aarggh!)
[End excerpt]

Wikipedia has an entry for Star Wars Day which suggests that the pun
was employed in May 1979. (I have not attempted to verify this.) The
message using the pun did not mention Star Wars Day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day

[Begin excerpt]
The first recorded reference of the phrase being used was on May 4,
1979, the day after Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom. Her political party, the Conservatives, placed a
congratulatory advertisement in the London Evening News saying "May
the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations."[5][6][7][dubious –
discuss]
[End excerpt]

In January 1980 a different pun was employed based on "May the fourth
be with you".

Date: January 7, 1980
Newspaper: The Evening Sun
Newspaper Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Article: Swann cites Rams' edge
Quote Page C3, Column 5
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/image/371023627/

[Begin excerpt]
Best poster of the day: "May the fourth be with you," a reference to
the Steelers' impending fourth Super Bowl victory.
[End excerpt]

In May 1983 another pun was employed based on "May the fourth (reel)
be with you".

Date: May 26, 1983
Newspaper: The Honolulu Advertiser
Newspaper Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Article: 'Jedi': May the fourth (reel) be with you
Author: David Freed (Los Angeles Times Service)
Quote Page 1, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/image/269544154/

[Begin excerpt]
'Jedi': May the fourth (reel) be with you

The debut of the "Star Wars" sequel "Return of the Jedi" nearly became
a sequel to "The Wild Bunch" yesterday when moviegoers threatened to
riot after managers of a packed theater misplaced a film reel,
interrupting a chase scene.
[End excerpt]

Garson O'Toole

On Fri, May 5, 2023 at 2:38 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I posted about Star Wars day to twitter yesterday, and thought it might be worth sending here.
>
> https://twitter.com/mullins_bill/status/1654198201166057491
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org