[Ads-l] More on Earliest Evidence of "Kilroy"

[Shapiro, Fred]

There is earlier evidence for the "Kilroy" folklore in _Sheppard Field Texacts_, Apr. 21, 1945, page 9, column 4: "Who is Kilroy?  What a one man campaign!  He seems destined to go down in history along with Foo and Novschmozkapop as a family by word."  (Sheppard Field, incidentally, was an Army Air Forces Base near Wichita Falls, Texas.)

Fred Shapiro



________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 10:20 PM
To: michael.proffitt at oup.com
Subject: Earliest Known Example of "Kilroy Was Here"


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.  I have found 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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