# Kilroy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404 "2006-10-22T03:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/1 "2006-10-22T03:43:41Z")
My sister is 43 and when I commented to her yesterday about the ads a local candidate (Mary Jo Kilroy) is running on TV, I mentioned that Kilroy is using the little Kilroy picture. My sister says she has never encountered either “Kilroy was here” or the graffito. My 45-year-old husband and my 35-year-old self both boggle at that, but perhaps we are the unusual ones. So, are you familiar with “Kilroy was here” and the accompanying cartoon/graffito? If so, where did/do you encounter it? (I first remember it from Bugs Bunny.) And how old are you? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/2 "2006-10-22T03:57:05Z")
I am 40, I cannot remember not knowing about Kilroy. I remember seeing it in movies and Looney Tunes likes you mentioned. I still remember seeing it on walls in school. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/3 "2006-10-22T03:59:50Z")
I’m 22, and I’ve known about Kilroy for as long as I can remember. I can’t say if I learned it from Bugs or from another source, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/4 "2006-10-22T04:01:45Z")
Kilroy was a WWI /Korean war icon. It’s supposed to have originated w/ a shipyard inspecter and was soon adopted by G.I.'s and then made it’s way into the American culture. In the 40’s and 50’s you might see the little drawing almost anywhere. My dad and a service buddy started a business after the war. My dad’s partner visited our hose one day when no one was home, he was a practical joker and thought it would be funny to leave Kilroy messages around the house. They were in kit. cabinets, the bathroom medicine cabinet and even in my mother’s dresser drawers. My mom was furious. I think dad found it funny, until he went to smoke his pipe. The guy had cut rubber bands into tiny pieces and put them into my dad’s tobacco tin.I’m just shy of 68 and I remember it well. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/5 "2006-10-22T04:23:28Z")
I’m 30 and I believe I first came across “Kilroy was Here” from having read MAD Magazine as a child. Much later, I became aware of its significance. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/6 "2006-10-22T04:52:26Z")
[QUOTE=DJ Motorbike] I’m 30 and I believe I first came across “Kilroy was Here” from having read MAD Magazine as a child. Much later, I became aware of its significance. [/QUOTE] It has a significance? ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/7 "2006-10-22T04:57:13Z")
My father said that he saw the Kilroy picture in South America during World War II. He was a radioman onboard a sub-chaser that was in port in Chile for a few days. On shore leave he went sight-seeing to the “Christ of the Andes” on the border of Chile and Argentina. He says that on the base of the statue, someone had drawn the Kilroy picture, and underneath had written “Kilroy pasa por aqui” which I don’t think is quite the normal “Kilroy was here”, but that’s what he said he saw. This would have been in about 1944 or so. It was very well known then. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/8 "2006-10-22T05:08:29Z")
I am 23 and I’ve known about it since I was a teenager at the very least. I don’t remember where I saw it first and can’t say that I recall seeing it lately, though, so I can easily imagine someone might not be familiar with it. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/9 "2006-10-22T05:10:29Z")
[QUOTE=Ruby] It has a significance? [/QUOTE] Yeah, I think so. For one, Cecil wrote about [it.](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mkilroy.html) ---
**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:** [October 22, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/10 "2006-10-22T06:07:50Z")
I’m 55. It was still common when I was a kid. My father was a WWII vet (in the Navy in the Pacific) and used to doodle Kilroys a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/11 "2006-10-22T12:00:47Z")
[Here](http://www.1115.org/archives/kilroy.jpg) is a link for those who have never seen it. I am familiar with it. 45 here. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/12 "2006-10-22T12:38:00Z")
I’m 37 and I’ve always known about it. Well since I started knowing things. I have no idea from where…Mad Magazine is a good possiblity. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/13 "2006-10-22T14:12:17Z")
Ok, I will be the doofus. I am 33 and I know about the story basically from Cecil but I am not sure what the drawings are and I don’t remember them from TV cartoons either. I just know it in an academic way and have never noticed anything about Kilroy in real life. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/14 "2006-10-22T14:51:16Z")
I’m a 44-year-old Englishman, and I’ve known of “Kilroy was here” and the Chad character since I was a small child. It wasn’t until some time later, in my late teens probably, that I first saw them together – and then from an American source (it may well have been Bugs Bunny, or something similar). I think that in the UK, Chad (if remembered at all) is still mostly associated with “Wot? No …?” ---
**Author:** ![freakstasy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@freakstasy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freakstasy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/15 "2006-10-22T14:54:15Z")
1. It’s interesting – I only became aware of Kilroy a few days ago, and already there’s a discussion about it. But if I hadn’t learned about it, I probably would have overlooked this thread and continued on with my life blissfully unaware of that piece of graffito. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/16 "2006-10-22T15:07:41Z")
I first saw the Kilroy picture in…grade 2, probably, first saw ‘kilroy was here’ sometime around grade 5. I’m 29. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/17 "2006-10-22T15:13:47Z")
_Oh, God, Neil, you’re such a killjoy, aren’t you? Hey, everyone, I’ll bet I know what Neil writes in public lavatories. [scribbles in the air] Look out, Killjoy was here!_ - Ric, _The Young Ones_, ‘Summer Holiday’ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/18 "2006-10-22T15:17:29Z")
I became aware of it in 1983 with the release of the Styx album “Kilroy was Here”. That is also where I became aware of the phrase “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto”. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/19 "2006-10-22T15:37:12Z")
I’m 46, and I became of aware of Kilroy sometime in elementary school. Making Kilroy drawings was popular when I was in about fifth or sixth grade. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404/20 "2006-10-22T15:57:17Z")
In what will probably be a futile attempt to dispel ignorance, in WWII (in which I served toward the end), “Kilroy Was Here” was just about everywhere there was a flat surface on which to write. However, **only** those words appeared. It was an **entirely different** thing where the little guy looking over the fence was drawn. He was not Kilroy, but SMOE. Usually he appeared alone, but sometimes “SMOE” was written underneath. I don’t know what the hell that stood for. It’s probably far too late to separate the two now, alas. Anyhoo, I’m 79. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kilroy/377404.md?page=2)