Brits: Why the red flowers in lapels?

While I was watching BBC News on TV last night, I couldn't help but notice that all the men -- members of parliament, the newscaster, the commentators, everyone -- were wearing red flowers in their lapels.
New fashion, or is there some significance to this?

Thank you for the link Kris! That was pretty neat.

I love poppies... pity they are so frail. Poppy seed cake is the shiznit too. My gf is half austrian so I get to eat a lot of those

This is a Canadian tradition as well. the war vets sell the poppies and we wear them until Nov. 11th. Remembrance Day. I have one I wear in SL too. If anyone is looking for a poppy to wear, Forseti Svarog makes and sells them.

Tomorrow, the 11th November, anyone who wishes can gather at the Remembrance Field in Grindlewald (122,36) for a period of reflection, to hear a few words spoken or say something themselves, to hear the Last Post, and to observe the two minutes' silence at 11 a.m. GMT. This will be repeated at 7 p.m. Please arrive earlier to be sure everyone is still during the silence. There is a platform available for memorial items.

MPs, Newscasters, fashionable.. hehehehehehe..

Dude, we have some HAWT newscasters!

No. I'm not naming names. Suffice it to say I'm in lust with a certain BBC news presenter.

Did I start reading the news?

Ok. Not THAT hawt. You can read my news anytime. Rawr

I'm not. This evening I heard two of them use the word 'times' as an active verb (instead of 'multiply').

We do it in the US too.

November 11th was originally called Armistice Day, and later changed to Veteran's Day in the 50s. It's a national holiday, and the veterans still sell the poppies, which became a symbol of World War I after a bloody battle in a field of poppies called Flanders Field in Belgium.

I think though, that the practice is fading as the older folks pass on...

Lets just say my lust does not factor in any consideration for intelligence or any basic grasp of the English language

Never heard of World War I?

I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
I'd love to turn you on.

Americans didn't participate in WW1 until the last throws of the campaign, in 1918.

That's not true. They actually didn't participate until the last throes of the campaign.

~Ulrika~

April 6, 1917 Pres. Wilson declared war on Germany. Soon after, both the Senate and the House approved. Wilson was hoping he could make peace with Austria-Hungary - but when it stayed loyal to Germany, the US declared war on them as well in December of that same year.

But you're right Weedy, the US didn't actually manage to get significant troops into Europe until the summer of 1918.

There are probably several reasons for this.

- The Monroe Doctrine (sometimes likened to isolationism).

- A US view that this was a "European" war (probably at least partially born of the Monroe Doctrine).

- We had a lackluster military at that time. Our Navy was extremely outdated, and our ability to mobilize troops to another continent was weak, to say the least.

What got the US involved finally? Selfish interests really.

- The British interception of the Zimmermann telegram (Jan. 1917), in which Arthur Zimmermann, German Foreign Secretary, told the German ambassador in Mexico to go to the Mexican gov't and try to persuade them to ally against the US.

- Unrestricted German U-Boat activity in the Atlantic (which included the wanton sinking of merchant ships).

I'm a history major with a concentration in Europe from 1870-1939. It's crossed my path.
Never seen or heard of wearing poppies as a form of rememberence however.

Your joking, right?

http://www.legion.ca/asp/docs/rempoppy/allabout_e.asp

Hmmmm...
I read the sentences but they make no sense.

Except for the US (and that only in recent memory), every year around the world since 1918 or so people have been wearing poppies to remember the war dead.

A practice imortalised by probably the most famous poem of World War I and one of it's most famous battlefields.

To me, that's like saying
"I *know* about the Simpsons, I just never heard of that Homer guy."

Maybe you should give your diploma back?

Different countries practice different traditions. I asked the question to learn about something I'd never seen before. I truly didn't mean to offend anyone by it. My apologies if I have.

I also had no idea of the connection between Poppies and WWI. I guess I should give my diploma back too.

...no, vestalia's right - as absurd as it may seem to folks hailing from those nations more directly involved in its theatre, the great war is largely lost to obscurity in the 'states, and its attendant traditions doubly so...

...i'm personally long familiar with poppies and their connection to remembrace day through snippets of music and literature i stumbled upon on my own, but they're all extremely esoteric references by the standards of american culture...having grown up mostly in the 'states, i can assure you that the average american-on-the-street would have no clue toward the significance of a poppy worn on one's lapel, and believe it or not, until garnet psaltry gave me an electronic poppy in-world yesterday, i'd never actually seen a poppy before in my life...


...i know you're half-teasing here, but really shouldn't innocent ignorance be greeted with kind-hearted education rather than contemptuous reprimand?..this is simply an artifact of differing cultures, no more, no less: had vestalia been studying literature, i'd call yours a valid criticism, but otherwise it's a quite natural oversight for an american still studying history...


...actually, that's really only the case within the commonwealth and her allies in the great war - the greater balance of the earth's cultures might find such a statement rather anglo-centric...in fact just this morning i've been researching remembrance day, not because i'm unfamiliar with its significance, but because it's so culturally alien to my RL experiences that i still have no idea whether or not it would be appropriate for me to wear a virtual poppy in-world...

I always give to the veterans but I prefer fresh flowers to the ones artificial ones provided as token to wear in your lapel. Stop to smell the poppies on the way!
http://www.streetdrugs.org/poppy.htm