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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not sure why someone would produce fake Kilroy buttons for War Bonds and
subtly backdating them to 1943.  To fool us perhaps? Of course, nothing is
impossible.

I don't see why the restorers would create a fake "Kilroy IS here" name for
the C-47. Maybe the Museum possesses a 1944 photo.

As for the frequency of KIlroy's appearance during the war, I will add that
I cannot recall many (or perhaps any) refs. to it in published wartime
letters or memoirs.

It would probably take only two sightings in distant places to convince a
person that Kilroy signs were "everywhere" in WW2.

Just as a data point: I checked with my wife about Gene Ahern's "Nov shmoz
ka pop," and - without prompting from me - she immediately associated it
with a cartoon of "a little man with a big nose looking over a fence."  I
associate the phrase only with the "little hitch-hiker" in Ahern's
"Squirrel Cage" strip.


JL

On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 11:13 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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