Richard's Poor Almanac by Richard Thompson for September 17, 2021

Another example of how Thompson was so clever. I love the “Stop doing that!”

Unless you are at war with someone, booing somebody else’s national anthem is extremely poor form (and if you ARE at war with them, it’s rare that you’ll be competing in international sporting events alongside them…although it has happened from time to time).

When I was in London some years back, I went to a soccer match between the USA and England at Wembley, an “international friendly” (i.e. no league or tournament standings were at stake). The “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played, much of the crowd booed (at least the crowd where I was sitting, but I chose to sit among the hard-core fans; others I talked to later, seated in different parts of the stadium, had a different experience). I’d never had much emotional connection to our anthem before that (and still don’t), but at that time I took it as a personal affront.

These certainly should be valid words! I’ve seen many an orff-skate, and heard way too many exvictorates!

You can’t beat Orff.