People celebrate birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. This evening we acknowledge the day that an event and a phrase now embedded in the consciousness of the District were born.

That’s right, folks. Today is the 16th anniversary of then-D.C. Mayor Marion Barry’s infamous crack-cocaine bust. Props to D.C. Metblogs for reminding us about this evening-of-note — we had honestly forgotten to make the dinner reservations and buy the gifts.

What would District residents do without having Barry and his shady activities to reference? Perhaps the mere mention of D.C. politics wouldn’t conjure up notions of crack-smoking, though we’re sure the reference to the endemic inefficiency of local government would still prevail.

That aside, what would we do without the phrase, “Damn, bitch set me up“? D.C., and our catch phases, would be so, so different. Happy Marion-got-busted-sixteen-years-ago-today day.

Picture of marionberries taken from marionberries.com.