# During WWII, Where did the phrase "Loose Lips Sink Ships" come from?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 9, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281 "2004-05-09T12:21:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/1 "2004-05-09T12:21:50Z")
I 've been told a story that was only passed on to me by word of mouth, but since I have no actual cites I won’t post it. Does anyone here know where this phrase actually came from, and if so, have a cite to verify it?
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### Author:  [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/2 "2004-05-09T12:52:54Z")
It was a poster campaign by the US government . Here are more details :-
[http://www.state.nh.us/ww2/loose.html](http://www.state.nh.us/ww2/loose.html)
The British government ran a similar scheme . One of the most famous phrases was " Be Like Dad , Keep Mum."
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### Author:  [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/3 "2004-05-09T12:59:56Z")
Here is a link to some British posters :- [http://www.homesweethomefront.co.uk/web\_pages/hshf\_careless\_talk\_pg.htm](http://www.homesweethomefront.co.uk/web_pages/hshf_careless_talk_pg.htm)
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/4 "2004-05-09T13:04:53Z")
Most references simply expalin it as a slogan. Ben Sullivan’s [Wise Old Sayings site](http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/archives10.htm) goes a bit further, laying out this explanation:
> [@](#):
>
> In response to our request for the author of “Loose lips sink ships”, several people wrote to us that the saying was an Allied slogan during World War II to warn the soldiers against unguarded talk that might give useful information to the enemy. Because so many civilians volunteered and were drafted during the war, the U.S. government was afraid they wouldn’t know how to conduct themselves and would inadvertantly disclose information. As a result, rules of conduct which included ten prohibited subjects were given to each soldier. They were warned that “…loose talk is direct delivery to the enemy” and “…your lips must remain sealed”. One poster actually read “Loose Lips Might Sink Ships”.
Unless some ancient advertising history can lay claim to identify the actual author, I suspect that it will remain one of those clever slogans that make it into the public consciousness anonymously. (I would be really leary of any claims that it was tied directly to any specific sinking of any particular ship(s). WWI had already produced a number of ads (none quite so catchy) that explained that gossiping about troop movements could be used by German spies to set up attacks on our military.)
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/5 "2004-05-09T13:58:22Z")
One of my favorite WWII phrases is rumored to have been emblazened on a giant banner at Bletchley Park: “THE ENEMY IS LISTENING.”
Especially funny because Bletchley Park is where Alan Turing, _et al_, listened to the enemy.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/6 "2004-05-09T15:42:08Z")
By March of 1942, the phrase “loose lips” was used by the Navy in talking about troop movements, ship departures, etc.
By May of that year, there were civil defense placards posted in every town saying “loose lips might sink ships.”
By July, the phrases “keep mum, chum” and “loose lips sink ships” were in newspapers in the US.
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### Author:  [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-wwii-where-did-the-phrase-loose-lips-sink-ships-come-from/244281/7 "2004-05-10T17:30:16Z")
Here are some representative posters with messages about civilian information security.
[Keep Mum - The World Has Ears](http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3f00000/3f05000/3f05500/3f05554v.jpg)
[THIS is what happens when YOU talk to others about Ship Sailings](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?ammem/wpapos:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3b49491)):displayType=1:m856sd=cph:m856sf=3b49491)
[CARELESS TALK…got there first](http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/img/ww1647-81.jpg)
[A careless word…A NEEDLESS SINKING](http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/img/ww1645-28.jpg)
[WANTED! FOR MURDER](http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/img/ww0207-80.jpg)
None with the elusive “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” however, although I know I’ve seen such a poster. As **Samclem** notes, this phrase also appeared in wartime papers. They often printied war slogans as “column filler”. Other common themes for both posters and column filler slogans:scrap and recycling drives, buying war bonds, increasing production, women in industry, rationing, characterizations of either allied troops or the enemy.