kilroy was here

[mojoeking]

what is the meaning of kilroy was here

[firefly]

This was a famous bit of graffiti during the 1940s. It was just a sort of territory marker by Kilroy. Anyone know who Kilroy was?

[andy hughes]

I believe the original Kilroy was an inspector, I think of ship's boilers, but memory is a bit hazy. To ensure that he, and the workers knew he had inspected a particular section, he would chalk 'Kilroy was here' as proof, and it passed into folklore.

[karstdejong]

'The Legend of KILROY The young James Kilroy was working on the docks of Boston harbor in the 1940s, loading the freight ships of the time with big crates filled with blue jeans, destined for the far reaches of the world. One early November morning the day started as so many before it. The wind was blowing, the weather was gray and drab, and James Kilroy was not in a mood for anything but staying inside, sheltered from wind and rain. "So, Kilroy, are you dreaming again? Not much you get done today." Kilroy not even blinked, he was used to the foreman and his insults. And the boxes with 100,000 pairs of blue jeans were waiting to be loaded. No way around it, he better get it over with. But when Kilroy bent down to lift one of the crates he suddenly got a bright idea -- an idea so brilliant that it couldn't be withheld. He grabbed a piece of chalk out of his pocket, and with big, visible letters he marked each box with: "KILROY WAS HERE." And through those boxes -- appearing in harbors across the whole planet -- KILROY's spirit reached the whole world. Indeed an effective way of getting around! After that, whenever the foreman shouted to Kilroy that he never got anything accomplished, he just smiled. He knew better. In harbors across the globe boxes were appearing every day to prove the foreman wrong. Kilroy knew that one could transcend borders and break through barriers many ways, and thereby feel free and independent.'

[frostbitten]

charming legend, karstdejong, but a bit thin on factual content. It's all there in the first sentence.