Why is everyone saying “keep calm and carry on” all the time now? Is it in Downton Abby or 50 Shades of Grey or something?
I know it’s from some English WWII poster. But why now? I googled it and I couldn’t find a simple answer.
by DougJ| 108 Comments
This post is in: Bleg
Why is everyone saying “keep calm and carry on” all the time now? Is it in Downton Abby or 50 Shades of Grey or something?
I know it’s from some English WWII poster. But why now? I googled it and I couldn’t find a simple answer.
Comments are closed.
ksmiami
See linky here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On
Maude
The Brit economy is in trouble and Cameron has his tat in a wringer. Carry on would be a soothing saying.
Keep clam, the Romney campaign is about ignite and I bet they love that saying.
Stuff just seeps into the popular landscape and stays for a bit.
I get 1st prize for this bs comment.
Felinious Wench
It was around the Olympics a lot; I think that’s how it was resurrected.
I have the sign in our development team area because it’s great when our product owners decide they need something IMMEDIATELY. 99 times out of 100, it’s not nearly as big a deal as they think.
Keep calm and carry on. Also, nothing to see here, move along, move along.
canuckistani
According to Wikipedia, it was long forgotten until one was found in a bookstore in 2000. And keeping calm is good advice for everyone so far this millenium.
Omnes Omnibus
For some reason, I associate it with the healthcare and debt ceiling fights.
DougJ
@ksmiami:
That only explains why it made something of a comeback over the last ten years not why it suddenly became so popular right now.
Comrade Jake
I prefer Obama’s “CHILL THE FUCK OUT, I GOT THIS!”
Amir Khalid
Why now? Why not now? It’s not like these things need a proximate reason, and “keep calm” is good advice at any time.
Last week, I saw a T-shirt that said KEEP CALM AND CAST PATRONUS. I might try that.
strandedvandal
I saw T-shirt in the Greenhills Mall in Manila Sunday, “Freak out and Call Mom” I thought it was pretty funny.
T_malone
July 7th 2005 after the bombings in London. The posters were put up in shop windows in an appeal for calm by appealing to the WWII sentimentality of the “greatest hour”.
Bob2
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/keep-calm-and-carry-on
Cassidy
And it has become almost as annoying as the “what i really do” meme that made me want to strangle people with the entrails of their lack of self-awareness.
Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker
Where are you seeing/hearing it? I’m curious. I’m all for it, myself, I think in everything from politics (Obama is doomed! Romney is toast!) to journalism (shark attacks, missing blonde girl alerts, trial of the century of the week), we could all use a little more phlegm in our humours.
Yutsano
@Maude: Keep Clam was the slogan for a local seafood joint for awhile up these parts. Which admittedly is quite good.
Short Bus Bully
It’s a CHIVE thing as well:
http://thechive.com/
Warren
The “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster has been ubiquitous for at least the last four years, so much so that it’s now kind of out of favor: my local bookstore has all its stock of KC&CO items at least 25% off currently.
I’ve always assumed it’s a response to the 2008 financial panic.
srv
Don’t know, but you better mind the gap.
Maude
@Yutsano:
Oh, that’s a WIN.
ksmiami
@DougJ: Nah – its been widely used lately in the BBC wrt the Euro economy in shambles… at least that’s what the financial types are saying
DougJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker:
If you must know, it was seeing it on Joe Scar’s twitter feed that clued me in.
Thomas F
Another manifestation of Doug’s latent anti-British bigotry!
Mnemosyne
@Felinious Wench:
It’s much further back than that — my “Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake” notepaper is at least two or three years old.
People like it because it’s very adaptable. It’s become “Keep Calm and [Do Your Hobby].” I’ve seen both “Keep Calm and Knit On” and “Keep Calm and Bike On,” and I’m sure there’s a million other variations as well.
Sorry, DougJ, but you’re well behind the curve on this one if you’ve only just noticed it.
SiubhanDuinne
@DougJ:
There are at least four different iPad apps that allow you to ‘shop your own variants of KC&CO posters, and most of those have just been available in the last < year. That might be part of the reason it's suddenly ubiquitous.
Mnemosyne
@DougJ:
Well, that explains why you’re so far behind with it. I don’t think Joe Scar is the guy who’s up on all of the latest pop culture memes.
I expect to see him jump on the “Gagnam Style” bandwagon sometime in the fall of 2014.
DougJ
@Thomas F:
That was my most successful trolling in years. I’m doing it with Germans next.
Tractarian
It’s just an internet meme. You might as well ask why Rick Astley is all of the sudden so popular.
Valdivia
Hmm. The 50 shades of grey doesn’t sound to me like it would be the source. Wouldn’t that be more like ‘close your eyes and think of England?’
srv
@Thomas F: All the Kennedy’s were pro-Nazi Irish. Doug is no different.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Just to add my 2 pence, my oldest has a shirt that is at least a couple years old with “Keep Calm & Carry On” on it. It didn’t just happen last week. We’re in Texas.
Comrade Jake
OT, but I found this hilarious. Anyone who can successfully troll Fox & Friends deserves some kind of medal.
dmsilev
That reminds me of a sign we had on our phone in the lab I worked in during grad school: “Wait 24 hours before calling Stockholm.”
Alien Radio
7th July Bombings. It was everywhere.
See we brits have actual experience of terrorism andbeing bombed on a regular basis, and frankly we aren’t the kind of delicate flowers to have massive psychological breakdowns in the aftermath of acts of terrorism.
Basically a Cup of tea, Some grumbling about how inconvenient the act of terrorism has been followed by a self admonishment “mustn’t grumble” , and life returns to normal.
Also it was basically Tony Blair’s fault.
Frankly I never liked it. The message is IMPLICIT in being british, Making It EXPLICIT is a bit off. On the plus side, No fucking Pink Alert or Plaid Alert bullshit.
Laura
Wow DougJ, you are like 2 years late on this meme.
Jewish Steel
If you could get 300+ comments bashing the Belgians, then we’d have to declare you troll-king.
Butch
Once again I find myself on the trailing edge of popular culture. I’ve never heard the expression.
Villago Delenda Est
If you remain calm while everyone around you is in a state of panic, perhaps you just don’t understand the situation.
MikeJ
@Jewish Steel: Somebody just needs to teach them how to make decent beer.
Villago Delenda Est
@Alien Radio:
You mean unlike your idiot cousins across the pond?
Can I come back to the homeland (Scotland) if I demonstrate I’m not just another moron American ninny?
Goblue72
It’s only become ubiquitous in middle America (which includes upstate NY) recently b/c it takes trends a while to filter out to the boonies. It’s been ubiquitous in major metro areas for a while. I swear every other home decor boutique in SF had one of those posters for sale in the mid-2000s. So much so that its jumped the shark in a “oh that is soooo 2008” kind of way.
FlipYrWhig
This reminds me of when I was with a friend of mine in New York one winter, a few years back, and he said, “Doesn’t it seem like everyone’s wearing the same scarf?” I said, “Hmm, hadn’t noticed.” My wife was in the apparel business at the time, so I asked her. “Is there like a new trend or something? So many people are wearing a beige scarf with red and black and white checks.” My wife spluttered. “You mean Burberry? Uh, that’s been around a while.”
Omnes Omnibus
@DougJ: Don’t mention the War.
Svensker
@Yutsano:
My favorite nephew gave me “Keep Clam” socks for Christmas a few years ago! Loved Ivars.
Shawn in ShowMe
@MikeJ:
And the Belgians have an unhealthy preoccupation with the Smurfs.
David in NY
@Butch:
Maude
@Villago Delenda Est:
Heard Def Sec Panetta use the word Homeland and just about threw up. That word needs to be banned.
Jewish Steel
@Omnes Omnibus: I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it…
Felinious Wench
@Mnemosyne:
Sure, but Doug asked why it has become a trend very recently. I think people rediscovered it because of the Olympics.
tavella
I’ve had a “Now Panic and Freak Out” shirt for a couple of years now, so it’s so old that even the reaction memes have faded.
David in NY
@FlipYrWhig: Went to Paris, Winter before this, saw all those (Burberry) scarfs. Said to my wife (hardly a fashion maven) same thing you did. Got same answer, too.
Hard to keep up anymore.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jewish Steel:
(brought to you from montypython.net)
Well now, the result of last week’s competition when we asked you to find a derogatory term for the Belgians. Well, the response was enormous and we took quite a long time sorting out the winners. There were some very clever entries. Mrs Hatred of Leicester said ‘let’s not call them anything, let’s just ignore them’ (applause starts vigorously, but he holds his hands up for silence) and a Mr St John of Huntingdon said he couldn’t think of anything more derogatory than ‘Belgians’. (cheers and applause; a girl in showgirl costume comes on and holds up placards through next bit) But in the end we settled on three choices: number three… the Sprouts (placard ‘The Sprouts’), sent in by Mrs Vicious of Hastings… very nice ; number two… the Phlegms (placard) from Mrs Childmolester of Worthing; but the winner was undoubtedly from Mrs No-Supper-For-You from Norwood in Lancashire… Miserable Fat Belgian Bastards.
Donut
Just chiming in to say “keep calm and carry on” as a catchphrase is new to me, but then again, a lot of pop culture is lost on me right now, unless it appeals to a six year old girl and three year old boy. So, I’m useless, in other words.
Though befor posting this, I just read te wiki link provided up thread, so now I dont feel as outta touch. Not quite.
Jack the Second
Reading Know Your Meme (already linked by Bob2), it looks like this has just been a slow & steady growing meme, with no big spikes or crashes. If it’s just now coming on your radar, then you’re just one of today’s lucky 10,000: http://xkcd.com/1053/.
bjacques
There’ve been loads of parody variations on the poster. I’ve actually seen it up close. Last year I was visiting a friend who lives just outside Newcastle, and we drove out there to see it and the Alnwick Gardens (and the castle, better known as Castle Blackadder).
LanceThruster
Chip Diller: Remain calm. All is well!
elftx
I saw a poster on FB saying Keep Calm and Carry on Harry
after his little what happened did not stay there vacay.
Citizen_X
@Jewish Steel: Fucking Belgians.
ETA: @Villago Delenda Est:
Sid’s Mom!
Villago Delenda Est
@Maude:
When they formed the Department of Homeland Security, my first thought was, hey, this was better in the original German.
Then a friend of mine mangled my Heimatssicherheitshauptamt into Heimatssicherheitshauptangst, which is a droll commentary on the entire meme.
SFAW
Doug –
It’s not “everyone” that says it, it’s only people talking to/about YOU. This is because you are, from all evidence available, an Excitable Boy.
One hopes it takes less than 20 years to let you out of the Home.
beltane
A commenter at The Guardian uses a spoof of this slogan with “Everyone Panic & Freak Out” in lieu of the more usual message. I liked it so much I swiped it for my own use.
bemused
It seems like everyone has jumped on the Keep Calm meme with variations. It’s endless.
Keep Calm and Carry a Wand
Keep Calm and Carrion
Keep Calm and Kiss Me
Keep Calm and Shut Up
Keep Calm and Play Beer Pong
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@DougJ: Have you considered seeing someone about your masochistic streak? Joe Scar’s twitter feed? There isn’t enough tea in China or Scotch in Speyside to allow me to read some of the things you read without risk of dissociation.
sparrow
I first saw it on a poster (a repro, obviously) in a bar in London back in 2007. I instantly loved it then, thought it was very typical British, etc. I don’t think it had become popular in the states then. Now I’m damn sick of it.
As my boyfriend loves to say:
“Freak out and throw stuff away!”
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
No doubt that will happen shortly after you invent a time machine or teach yourself to fly by flapping your arms.
But I will give you credit for using “ninny”, it’s a wonderful word.
roc
@DougJ: I don’t think it has “suddenly [become] so popular right now”. This is just what ten years of steadily expanding popularity looks like. “Now” is just coincidentally the point at which its steadily-growing popularity appears to have “punched through” to permeate nearly every niche.
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0&q=%22keep%20calm%20and%20carry%20on%22%2C%22keep%20calm%22%20poster&geo=&gprop=&cmpt=q
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW:
I’ll just borrow Obama’s time machine, like the hippies who took their 60’s moral depravity back in time to cause all those child abuse incidents in the Boy Scouts and Catholic Church, in the 20’s and 30’s.
Admittedly, I haven’t figured out the flapping your arms part, but give me some time over at Red State, I’m sure something will come to me if I delve enough into the comments there.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jewish Steel: You started it! You invaded Poland.
amcoco
@DougJ:
I wouldn’t say it’s just now making a comeback. I’ve seen it around for some time now (for example, a giant display of branded tchotchke in AI Friedman about a year back) – tho maybe in “intellectual elite” NY we’re ahead of the rest of the country?
SuperHrefna
@T_malone: Yes, that’s when I remember seeing it everywhere too: before July 7th it was a niche thing only known to those for whom it will always be the Blitz, but after the bombings it became a popular way to keep morale up, while still retaining that crucial weeny bit of ironic distance.
Southern Beale
Whoa. Researching Lyme Disease for a project and stumbled upon a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory I’d never heard before.
Kinda boggles the mind.
Felinious Wench
@amcoco:
I don’t know if DougJ is around high school kids that much, but that’s where I’ve seen the trend picking up when it wasn’t there before.
Huband is a high school teacher. Also, a saint.
patroclus
President Obama WILL be on the ballot in Kansas after all. At today’s hearing, Orly Taitz showed up and attempted to speak continuously about her insanity (er, the “duress” that forced Joe Montgomery to withdraw his 30-page objection), but the Board (i.e., just Kris Kobach) ruled that the objection, having been withdrawn, was no longer valid. That, plus the fact that Hawaii, over the weekend, yet again certified that Obama’s birth certificate was genuine, clinched the matter.
For historical context, the last time a President was denied ballot access in a state was 1964, when President Johnson was denied access to the Alabama ballot. Cynics have claimed that it was because of the passage of the Civil Rights Act although Alabama officials claimed otherwise.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
See, the problem with that idea is that, going over to RedState would probably be more useful if you were researching FAPPING. Plus your comments here would take on an orangey tint, I’m a-guessing.
JGabriel
__
__
DougJ @ Top:
Wikipedia (Take with grains of salt, to taste):
.
Villago Delenda Est
@patroclus:
Ms. Taitz is the gift that keeps on giving.
(tinfoil hat mode ACTIVATED)
Obviously an agent of O.B.A.M.A.
(cue footage of Obama sitting in the oval office petting a white long haired angora)
patroclus
@Villago Delenda Est: I talked to my sister last night – she lives in Kansas. She said that Kansas would become the “laughingstock of the nation” if they took Obama off the ballot and I told her that Kansas already was a laughingstock.
Orly Taitz had nothing to do with the challenge and wasn’t entitled to speak, but Kobach let her do it anyway.
Jay in Oregon
For figuring out where memes get started, you can always try Know Your Meme:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/keep-calm-and-carry-on
ellie
I didn’t read all the comments, but I saw this through Shorpy:
http://vintagraph.com/collections/keep-calm-carry-on/products/keep-calm-and-carry-on-red
Designed by the British Ministry of Information they say.
Joel
And here’s a 6000 SUX.
Tim in SF
It’s a meme, grampa.
Comrade Mary
One of my favourite restaurants on Queen St. West in Toronto has a sign outside that says “Keep Calm and Curry On.” Yes, I believe I will, thank you.
Comrade Mary
And if we’re talking memes, I know this guy. He doesn’t talk about his net fame very much.
JenJen
@DougJ: Scarborough’s been using it off and on as his Twitter avatar for a few years now.
Thlayli
@FlipYrWhig:
Yes, Burberry the company has been around for a long time. But the “everyone in New York is wearing the same scarf” phenomenon is fairly recent, I’d say within the last decade.
PLH ~ NYC
It is a meme from Animal House:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
LanceThruster
@sparrow:
When in danger
When in doubt
Run in circles
Scream and shout
Load the cannon
Fire the gun
Raise the signal flag,
Well done!
Schlemizel
Its what you would say to keep the sheep relaxed at the door of the abattoir.
So, as we watch man kind turn our world to an unlivable shit hole we don’t want people running around panicking. No sir, what we want is for everyone to form nice orderly lines and think happy thoughts while we fritter away our last hopes
Robert Sneddon
Funniest yet most appropriate use of the “Keep Calm” poster design I’ve seen is on cabin luggage, bright red of course.
http://www.tesco.com/direct/keep-calm-cabin-case/414-8958.prd
mellowjohn
@Comrade Jake: yeah, but i can’t use that on my coffee cup at school.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker: Phlegm, bile, choler, beer?
Michael James
“Keep Calm and Carry On” became a thing in the naughties here in the UK, hitting critical mass post-2008 economic woes. These days, it’s well played out, and become the present-day UK equivalent of a “FRANKIE SAYS ‘RELAX’!” t-shirt.
Jewish Steel
@Villago Delenda Est: That’s exactly what I was think of.
trollhattan
@Svensker:
Ivar was a marketing genius, and I loved going there as a kid. For a time he owned the Smith Tower (south end of downtown, once tallest building in the western U.S.) and he flew a giant Japanese-style fish flag from the top. The great Ivar’s underwater Puget Sound billboard hoax was in keeping with his Norweigian sense of humor.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2010253767_ivars12m.html
Cacti
I’ve always preferred:
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
Thrax
Saw a T-shirt at Sesame Place when I visited recently. Has Cookie Monster where the crown would be, over the text: “Keep Calm and Eat Cookies.”
Roy G.
Because it sounds better than ‘If rape is inevitable, just relax.’
*h/t Bobby Knight
greenergood
@tavella: Yep – bought my ‘Now Panic and Freak Out’ tea mug two years ago. I love it – especially as I think it’s correct in its instructions.
Omnes Omnibus
In Romania, the saying was “Burn the crops, poison the wells, and retreat into the mountains.”
Cassidy
@trollhattan: Wow. The Times really got butthurt over being fooled. What a bunch of douchebags.
John Cole
I thought it was Keep Calm and Chive On…
SFAW
@Roy G.:
Sasha
Whenever a political campaign begins to unravel, I frequently link to a parody image: “Freak Out and Lose Your Shit.”
Uncle Ebeneezer
@bemused: How bout the opposite? Stay aroused and get off! That would be a better poster, imo.
Njorl
I’d like to know what’s up with people saying “also too”. That seems very weird to me. What’s even weirder is that it shows up mostly at the beginning of sentences.
Djur
Yeah, it’s part of the British nostalgic self-image, where they think of themselves as doughty stiff-upper-lippers instead of a nation full of people constantly freaking out whenever one of their royal parasites gets killed in a car crash or some huckster tells them vaccines cause autism or about the paedo pakis, etc.
Djur
@Njorl: The lexicon knows all:
https://balloon-juice.com/balloon-juice-lexicon-a-h/
Aet
Its also one of those memes that gets reused. ‘Keep Calm and X’ tends to reappear in different internet communities. As was said above, one of my favorites was ‘Keep Calm and Eat Cookies’ with a picture of Cookie Monster in place of the crown.
"Tug" Wilson [Old Limey Feller]
The British Government printed a few hundred thousand posters to be pasted up if the Germans mounted a serious invasion effort. They were wharehoused and not used but of course were leaked. The poster was a general instruction to the population not to panic. Crowded roads full of refugees and a terrified French people had severely hindered Franco-British military movements in 1940. The War Department was very aware of the utter necessity of good,stoic propaganda. After the July 2007 bombings in London it seemed to strike a chord with Londoners, part of our Blitz mythology perhaps? I work in Londons strand and pass daily a shop which merchandizes tourist trinkets, full of mugs and posters with the original slogan plus some rather droll variations.
AHH onna Droid
I blame Apartment Therapy. That sign and old streetcar rollsigns were ubiquitous in house tours a while back.