Culture

Star Wars Day! May the 4th Be With You

by Rob Walker | May 4, 2009 at 05:33 am

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Thanks to a lovely play on words, May 4th is being celebrated by nerds everywhere as Star Wars Day. The pun on 'May the force be with you' works quite well for 'May the 4th be with you'.

While not an officially recognized holiday anywhere, there was a failed attempt in the UK to start a Church of the Jedi, who wanted May 4th to be their holy day.

Follow the Twitter conversation at #starwarsday

Last year, two Star Wars-loving Englishmen attempted to start a UK Church of the Jedi, with May 4th as their holy day, citing the 2001 British census results which saw 390,000 people claim `Jedi' as their religion.
In Australia, the official number of Jedis from the 2001 census are unknown as the Australian Bureau of Statistics records people who mark `Jedi' as `no religion'.

May 4 is called Star Wars Day because of a pun or play on words based on the similarity between "May the 4th be with you" and "May the force be with you", a phrase often spoken in the Star Wars movies. In common usage the joke might be presented:

John Doe: Happy Star Wars Day!
Jane Doe: What?
John Doe: May the 4th be with you!

As an example of the cultural impact of Star Wars, the joke is recorded[1] in the UK parliament's Hansard.

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Uwe Paschen

at 05:46 on May 4th, 2009

I did not know that May 4th was Star War day... Here in Japan it is part of the Golden Week.

Uwe Paschen

at 06:26 on May 4th, 2009

Darth Vader was he not also the father of Jedi?

The word Terrorist is being used a little to lightly since 9/11.

Jarrett Martineau

at 07:23 on May 4th, 2009

Thounds thuper!

LilHoody

at 11:43 on May 4th, 2009

Darth Vader is a jedi knight. He had a spell as a sith lord - got corrupted and turned to the dark side. He was blinded by his arrogance, greed and lust - all traits that are not of a jedi.

Though he came good in the end - he did do some damage in the mean time though.

Cool story - I am Star Wars nerd - Can't deny my roots.