# Kilroy is the Modren Man. But what is "modren"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 7, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765 "2006-06-07T17:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rush2112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@rush2112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rush2112)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/1 "2006-06-07T17:03:14Z")
? Kilroy is the Modren Man. But what is “modren”? thanks, -b ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/2 "2006-06-07T17:13:05Z")
A misspelling of “modern,” perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/3 "2006-06-07T17:15:22Z")
Modern. Kilroy is the _modern_ man. With some parts made in a small Asian country in the pacific. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/4 "2006-06-07T17:18:15Z")
This misspelling appears on about 1,300 web pages, compared to 133,000 with the correct spelling. More on [Mr. Roboto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Roboto) and Kilroy, the Modern Man. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/5 "2006-06-07T17:29:08Z")
It always sounded like modren to me, but I just assumed that this was just a pronounciation quirk. Sorta like when Billy Joel says “Brender and Eddie.” ---
**Author:** ![rush2112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@rush2112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rush2112)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/6 "2006-06-07T17:47:22Z")
All of the “lyrics” pages spell it “modren”. Even the official sites. So I am pretty positive it was spelled (and sang) that way. Just not sure why. ---
**Author:** ![rush2112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@rush2112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rush2112)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/7 "2006-06-07T17:53:42Z")
it’s “modren” not modern. Just verified at the official web site. [http://www.styxworld.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=137090&PT=Kilroy+was+Here](http://www.styxworld.com/listingsEntry.asp?ID=137090&PT=Kilroy+was+Here) -and- I opened the CD case and read the printed lyrics. Back to square one. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/8 "2006-06-07T17:57:26Z")
[QUOTE=rush2112] Back to square one. [/QUOTE] Back to answer one, too, most likely: a misspelling of “modern.” Intentional, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/9 "2006-06-07T18:09:50Z")
IIRC, in the cassette liner notes, the “r” in modren was printed backwards (mirrored around the vertical axis), too. ---
**Author:** ![chowhawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@chowhawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowhawk)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/10 "2016-07-11T07:14:02Z")
> **[Urban Dictionary: modren](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=modren)** > > The real name for "post-modernism" It's the stage we got to after the "modern" age Often misnamed the "digital" age, or the "age of information" by academic historians and other pitiful creatures who spend most of their short days trapped in a small... ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/11 "2016-07-11T08:04:37Z")
> [@chowhawk](#): > > [Urban Dictionary: modren](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=modren) Thanks for the update, **chowhawk** , and welcome to the SDMB, but the full extent of the OP’s participation here was the three posts in that thread, ten years ago. I suspect he/she won’t see your reply. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/12 "2016-07-11T15:32:42Z")
Since this is about song lyrics, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Please note that this was started 10 years ago. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/13 "2016-07-11T16:05:39Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Since this is about song lyrics, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Domo arigato. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/14 "2016-07-11T16:36:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Since this is about song lyrics, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Shouldn’t you leave a note in General Questions to acknowledge that “Kilroy was here”? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/15 "2016-07-11T19:49:29Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Thanks for the update, **chowhawk** , and welcome to the SDMB, but the full extent of the OP’s participation here was the three posts in that thread, ten years ago. I suspect he/she won’t see your reply. At any rate, Urbandictionary is iffy at best as a citation. That particular entry seems pretty bogus. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/16 "2016-07-11T20:07:51Z")
I’m no Rush scholar but I know the song pretty well. I’m going to go with “modren” being an intentional mistake to reinforce the dangers and imperfections of increasingly robotic society (Machines to save our lives / machines dehumanize) that the song deals with. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/17 "2016-07-11T20:46:13Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > At any rate, Urbandictionary is iffy at best as a citation. That particular entry seems pretty bogus. Especially since it was made in 2011, a full 28 years after “Mr. Roboto” was released. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/18 "2016-07-11T21:23:41Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > I’m no Rush scholar but I know the song pretty well. Well, it’s not Rush, it’s Styx, but anyway. I, um, may know a bit about the Kilroy Was Here LP. The ‘Modren’ spelling - and it was pronounced that way in at least one song, was also a tip off that there was a few backward tracked things on the LP. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/19 "2016-07-11T21:29:25Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Well, it’s not Rush, it’s Styx, but anyway. > > I, um, may know a bit about the Kilroy Was Here LP. The ‘Modren’ spelling - and it was pronounced that way in at least one song, was also a tip off that there was a few backward tracked things on the LP. “Nerdom?” At least it wasn’t a song about The Lord of the Rings… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765/20 "2016-07-11T23:17:43Z")
Styx is from Chicago. Modren was a common mispronunciation when spoofing the accents of aldermen, ward heelers, and Duh Mare, Richard J. Daley. The Chicago Bar Association had an annual variety show that once featured Hizzoner singing about how he was building a “thoroly\* modren city now,” to the tune of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a popular movie of the time. - - Col McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, attempted to simplify spelling. That one didn’t take. Catalog did. [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-01-29/site/ct-per-flash-simplespelling-0229-20120129\_1\_spelling-texting-tribune](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-01-29/site/ct-per-flash-simplespelling-0229-20120129_1_spelling-texting-tribune) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy-is-the-modren-man-but-what-is-modren/359765.md?page=2)