[Ads-l] "Who was Kilroy?" June 26, 1945 (in-print antedating?)

[Ben Zimmer]

FWIW, eBay has listings for a few similar "Kilroy Was Here" buttons dated
to 1943:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-amp-ORIGINAL-WW-II-PINBACK-OF-KILROY-LOOK-/203265273128
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-WWII-HOMEFRONT-KILROY-WAS-HERE-NYC-CLUB-1943-BUTTON-/143932728271
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-WWII-HOMEFRONT-KILROY-WAS-HERE-KILROY-CLUB-OF-NYC-1943-BUTTON-/143943559567


On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 10:46 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

> I want to be open-minded, but the 1943 button is just too early to be
> true, and perhaps the 1944 airplane name as well.  Also, to me the
> supposedly 1943 button seems to be founded on the saying being already
> well-known, which clearly it was not in 1943.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2021 10:34 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "Who was Kilroy?" June 26, 1945 (in-print antedating?)
>
> This photo of a button promoting war bond appears to show a "Kilroy" -
> complete with portrait - from 1943:
>
> http://www.kilroywashere.org/001-Pages/01-0KilroySightings-4.html
> "BUY WAR BONDS   KILROY WAS HERE    WASH. DC 1943."
>
>
> And here is a (restored) C-47 named "KILROY" IS HERE (with cartoon) that
> took part in the D-Day invasion in June, 1944:
>
> https://www.combatairmuseum.org/aircraft/douglasskytrain.html
>
> Regrettably, the site doesn't afford a contemporaneous photo of the plane.
>
> WW2 photos of the Kilroy sign appear to be almost nonexistent online.
>
> That leads me to believe its frequency during WW2 may have been
> considerably exaggerated.
>
>

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