Favorite Things: Keep Calm and Carry On

I thought I would do a new blog series on my FAVORITE THINGS. A lot of bloggers do it and I thought it would be fun. So here is my first Favorite Thing and it is really a mixed favorite thing.

This phrase Keep Calm and Carry On is everywhere right now! And I love it and I hate it at the same time.

Let me explain. I have known and understood this phrase since middle school. I have always loved history and in the 8th grade I went to London with my parents. This trip started my love of all things British- including history.

One of the greatest things about the city of London is that it is very obvious that a war was fought in this country. England does not hide that fact that they were severely attacked during WWII- they keep buildings with bomb damage so they can remember the war and al those that fought for the cause.

But I digress... during that trip I heard this phrase for the first time and I learned the history behind it.

For the past year or so this phrase has been everywhere! I love that I can find posters.. pillows... cell phone covers... whatever with this phrase, but it annoys me that no one seems to know the background behind this! I think the blogging world is to thank for this!

So while I love it- I hate it! And I will admit being a little snobbish about it- I get really frustrated when people buy something with this and have no idea what it is! So my end thoughts are I love it for me and my decorating needs!

For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about here is a history lesson: (Just skip the red writing if you don't want to know!)

Keep Calm and Carry On is a catchphrase that originally appeared on a World War II-era British public safety poster. After one of the original posters was recovered and placed in a British bookshop in 2000, the inspirational message was shared online, sparking a series of image macros centered around the phrasal template “Keep Calm and X.

The Keep Calm and Carry On poster was commissioned in 1939 by the temporary Ministry of Information in England, following the printing of two other inspirational posters stating “Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might” and “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory.” It was intended to be used to strengthen morale in the event of a large-scale attack or occupation, which many considered inevitable at the time. Though more than million of these posters were originally commissioned, after the war ended they were kept in storage where most were destroyed.

In 2000, Stuart Manley and his wife Mary found the poster folded at the bottom of a box of old books they purchased at an auction for their Alnwick, England bookshop, Barter Books. Not knowing its origins, the couple had it framed and hung it in the shop, where they began selling prints of it the following year. According to Mary, they had sold over 40,000 copies by March 2009. As of 2012, Barter is not the only place that houses original copies of the poster. The Imperial War Museum in England has approximately six and fifteen additional copies were found in February 2012, where they were appraised on the television show Antiques Roadshow.

Source: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/keep-calm-and-carry-on

Another thing that is happening is turning this phrase into different sayings like:

Keep Calm and Play Tennis

Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes.

Keep Calm and Teach On

ECT, ECT, ECT! They are everywhere!

And to be honest with you I actually like these- I find them very funny! So I guess I am not too snobbish!

So here it goes:

Thoughts anyone?????