[Ads-l] Earliest Known Example of "Kilroy Was Here"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED's first citation for "Kilroy was here" is dated Oct. 20, 1945.  Barry Popik has pushed the phrase back to Sept. 28, 1945.  There is an earlier occurrence, from an Access Newspaper Archive search, in _Sheppard Field Texacts_, July 14, 1945, page 3, column 1.

Note that in the Yale Book of Quotations I cited a variant, "Kilroy Sleeps Here," from the _Kearns Air Force Post Review_, June 26, 1945.

Fred Shapiro



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