# What is the significance of these? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 13, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766 "2011-11-13T03:57:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/1 "2011-11-13T03:57:47Z")
The little flat red flowers that people are wearing on their lapels these days—from a distance they look as if they’ve been crocheted—are the ones I’m wondering about. I’ve really only seen them on people on TV, but they could be out and about in the real world too. They’re probably about two inches in diameter. I hate to miss out on the newest ‘cause’. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/2 "2011-11-13T04:00:54Z")
Remembrance/Veterans Day poppies. . ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/3 "2011-11-13T04:03:09Z")
Ah, I should have guessed. :smack: Many thanks. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/4 "2011-11-13T04:03:30Z")
> **[Remembrance poppy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_poppy)** > > A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans' associations, who exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to give financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the armed forces. > Inspired by the war poem "In Flanders Fields", and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first used near the end of World War I to commemorate British Empire and Uni... ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/5 "2011-11-13T04:08:08Z")
Well, at least you’re not missing out on the _latest_ cause. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/6 "2011-11-13T04:20:10Z")
> [@MizQuirk](#): > > I’ve really only seen them on people on TV, but they could be out and about in the real world too. I saw a Canadian guy wearing one yesterday, as I refueled. (I’m close to the border.) ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/7 "2011-11-13T04:38:08Z")
[This Canadian?](http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Cooler+heads+will+prevail+Greek+crisis+Harper/5656111/story.html) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/8 "2011-11-13T06:54:18Z")
> [@MizQuirk](#): > > I hate to miss out on the newest ‘cause’. 😃 You’d have to go back more than 90 years for this to be the newest cause, considering they began after WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/9 "2011-11-13T07:45:22Z")
I never realized the custom originated in the United States. I’ve always associated it with Britain and Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/10 "2011-11-13T14:15:10Z")
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. - John McCrae, MD, Lt Col, Royal Canadian Army, 1915; in the public domain ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/11 "2011-11-13T20:14:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I never realized the custom originated in the United States. I’ve always associated it with Britain and Canada. When I was a kid, we used to buy them for a quarter or a dollar or something from the VFW outside supermarkets just before and on Veteran’s Day. Now, I never see them for sale. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/12 "2011-11-13T21:20:14Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > When I was a kid, we used to buy them for a quarter or a dollar or something from the VFW outside supermarkets just before and on Veteran’s Day. Now, I never see them for sale. Come to Canada, they’re all over the place. Want me to send you some next year? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-significance-of-these/602766/13 "2011-11-13T21:33:30Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > When I was a kid, we used to buy them for a quarter or a dollar or something from the VFW outside supermarkets just before and on Veteran’s Day. Now, I never see them for sale. Wow, you’re young. They were a penny or nickel when I was a kid. They were usually sold on the street, by disabled vets, since we didn’t have supermarkets until I was in my 20s. My grandfather would buy them for each family member, and the kids wore them to school the day after Veterans Day. They were made of paper coated with lacquer. The yellow center was ceramic on a wire. The flower petals were impaled by the wire. They smelled funny.