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Old November 8th 04, 01:11 PM
Andrew Chaplin
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Raoul wrote:

The Veterans of Foreign Wars here in the USA calls 'em "buddy poppies"
I bought one from an old guy on the street. He said I was 'buying one"
so that's good enough for me.


Even the Royal Canadian Legion's own canvassers don't always get it
right

I can receive Canadian TV where I live in the USA and have noticed the
broadcasters and their poppies around this time of year. Understandable
since Canada is pretty tight with the UK and even moreso during the WW
I years.


The red poppy has been regarded as the plant badge for remembrance
throughout the Commonwealth since the publication in Punch and
subsequent popularization of the poem "In Flanders Fields" by a
Canadian soldier, Lt. Col. John McRae, but the flower's appearance in
soil disturbed by bombardment had previously been noticed during the
Napoleonic Wars. It symbolism in the Great War would have dawned on
both the UK and Canada simultaneously, I suspect.

The RCL has made the red poppy a trademark in Canada, and will defend
its appropriate use much the way Disney protects Mickey Mouse.
http://www.legion.ca/asp/docs/rempoppy/allabout_e.asp

Frank Magazine usually runs a piece called "Poppycock" in early
November to show who is exploiting the poppy for political or
commercial ends.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)