“I want to put drinking beer in the Olympics”

 

I’m sure many readers have indulged in Wiki-wandering from time to time.  That’s what happens when you look up something on Wikipedia, and something on that page catches your eye, and you click through to find out more about it, and that leads you on to something else, and so on, and so on.

Well, I was doing some research for one of the books I’m currently writing, looking up information about a dish called a Lancashire hotpot (which my mother used to make from time to time, and which I enjoyed – I’m going to try making it myself soon).  To my surprise, Wikipedia said there was also a British comedy singing group of that name, using Lancashire dialect in their songs.  I clicked over to the group’s page on Wikipedia, and was highly amused to read this paragraph:

The group were contacted by the International Olympic Committee in August 2016 over their 2008 song “The Beer Olympics”. The IOC claimed trademark rights over the word Olympics stating that Hotpots’ use of the word was a breach of their trademark. To avoid further problems, the band subsequently retitled the song “The Beer International Non-Profit, Non-Governmental Sporting Quad Yearly Event”.

That’s quintessentially British working-class humor, that is – cocking a snook at authority on every conceivable occasion!

To my further pleasure, Youtube has a video of the song.

I had to laugh.  Youtube has more songs by the Lancashire Hotpots, and I’m going to listen to some when I have time.  It’s nice to have something to smile about, now and again.

That brightened up my day.  I hope it does yours, too.

Peter

3 comments

  1. If only the video had captions; 'twixt their Brit English and my Ancient Ears, I can but tap my foot to the beat without understanding a bloody word.

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