[HN Gopher] The Phrase "Kilroy Was Here" (2017)
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The Phrase "Kilroy Was Here" (2017)
        
       Author : Vaslo
       Score  : 83 points
       Date   : 2021-02-07 19:42 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.thoughtco.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.thoughtco.com)
        
       | gerdesj wrote:
       | We called it a "Chad" (the article says "Mr Chad" - I'm only 50
       | so the Mr may have been dropped by my time). Popular around early
       | to mid 1980's UK.
       | 
       | I can remember doodling a chad and seeing many chad doodles. If
       | you had a pencil in your hand and no idea what to do, it was a go
       | to. If I had to estimate then I think Chads disappeared in the
       | early to mid 1990s.
       | 
       | In my experience 8)
        
       | metadaemon wrote:
       | I first saw the drawing and the phrase in my grandparent's
       | bathroom when I was growing up. Always makes me nostalgic
       | whenever I see it in public.
        
       | andrewprock wrote:
       | The oddest part of the story is the suggestion that the concept
       | of meme arose with the internet, instead of with Richard Dawkins
       | in the mid 1970s.
        
       | rmason wrote:
       | As someone who grew up shortly after WW2 ended, Kilroy was
       | everywhere and this story brings back fond memories of finding
       | the meme in the most unlikely and difficult to access places.
       | 
       | I think it mostly stopped with Generation X, I don't know, but
       | I'm willing to bet, that most instances of Kilroy that you find
       | are over forty years old with the majority being over sixty years
       | old.
        
         | reaperducer wrote:
         | _I 'm willing to bet, that most instances of Kilroy that you
         | find are over forty years old with the majority being over
         | sixty years old._
         | 
         | The most recent memory I have of it is from the Styx song Mr.
         | Roboto. That was 1983.
        
         | ljf wrote:
         | Around 1988 - (I was approx 8) me and some other children in my
         | class were tasked with making a school paper. I remember that
         | image being on the front cover - where there was a crudely
         | drawn picture of a school wall, with some graffiti on it, (one
         | of which was that image). I'd never seen it at school before (I
         | don't think there was any graffiti at all at school) and I
         | remember it really sticking in my mind. Not sure if it had the
         | slogan written. I enjoyed sketching it on bits of paper for a
         | while but it always had to be on a brick wall when I did it, to
         | denote it was graffiti.
        
       | kilroy_jones wrote:
       | Still here.
       | 
       | Always loved this tidbit of history. As a kid who was obsessed
       | with WWII, I would hunt for them in old photos and videos.
        
       | coreyisthename wrote:
       | I have a Kilroy sticker on my car.
        
       | woodruffw wrote:
       | Finding Kilroys while exploring is always a treat. I have a page
       | of ones that I found on UMD's campus[1].
       | 
       | [1]: https://yossarian.net/media/kilroy/
        
       | An0mammall wrote:
       | Never knew this was so old and always wondered where it came
       | from.
        
       | jimmyvalmer wrote:
       | tldr The expression likely derives from "Foo was here," scrawled
       | by Australian soldiers in the Great War. The precise moniker
       | "Kilroy" is disputed, the prevailing theory crediting a
       | technician James J. Kilroy of Braintree, MA who chalked the
       | "easter egg" epigram on panels of WWII battleships (panels which
       | became inaccessible after the ship was fully built).
        
       | crazydoggers wrote:
       | > Unfortunately, it was later revealed by one of the show's
       | consultants that the vault footage was "recreated" (i.e.,
       | completely made up), which should make you think twice about the
       | historical accuracy of anything aired on this cable channel!
       | 
       | More people need to call out the history channel. What a bunch of
       | claptrap they air on that as if it were fact. History is so
       | important to people's understanding of current events, and the
       | history channel just serves up whatever conspiracies get the most
       | ratings. I've even seen people cite this garbage as if it had
       | validity, or kids use it in school reports as if it's got some
       | semblance of accuracy.
        
       | sonofhans wrote:
       | Ha! This is all a cover. Every Asimov fan knows the real story --
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Message_(short_story)
       | 
       | (Joking, of course :)
        
         | Gracana wrote:
         | That's great. I wasn't familiar with it, but thankfully
         | archive.org has a copy.
         | https://archive.org/details/completestories01asim/page/n99/m...
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-02-07 23:00 UTC)