"go to plan" (1936, UK)

[Wilson Gray]

Well, I certainly hope that this dies out. I had the impression that
G's post had to do with "go[ing someplace in order] to [draw up a]
plan." I already have enough of a problem dealing with commas left out
when they should be put in and put in when they should be left out.

-Wilson

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 10:38 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      "go to plan" (1936, UK)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Any chance of German influence here? -- e.g., "Wenn alles nach Plan =
> l=E4uft,... =3D If all goes according to plan."  In German, "nach" =
> (usually =3D after) can also mean "to" in cetain instances, e.g. nach =
> Hause =3D (to) home, nach Norden (to the north), nach oben (upward). =20
> =20
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> Original message from: Benjamin Zimmer, Sun 8/17/2008 8:13 PM:
>
> The OED3 draft entry for "plan" includes "according to plan" ('as
> intended or projected') from 1893, including cites for "go according
> to plan". Not included is "go to plan" in the same sense, particularly
> in the expression "if all goes to plan" ('if all goes well'). It seems
> to be a pretty common construction these days, at least in
> newspaperese, e.g.:
>
> ---
> http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY_ATH_TRACK_AND_FIELD?SITE=3DAP
> And that supposed U.S. track and field juggernaut? Well, things aren't
> quite going to plan.
> ---
>
> It appears to be orig. UK, since a ProQuest search finds cites from
> the _Guardian_ (a recent addition to ProQuest) well before anything
> from the U.S. (Even the 1957 Tribune cite below is from a
> correspondent in the UK, who could have been influenced by British
> usage.)
>
> ---
> 1936 _Manchester Guardian_ 6 July 3/1 All went to plan, and off the
> return Hughes made the winning volley.
> ---
> 1945 _Manchester Guardian_ 23 June 5/6 If all goes to plan, the
> impression is made of the judgments penetrating far into the crevices
> of Germany's erstwhile police State.
> ---
> 1946 _Manchester Guardian_ 9 Jan. 5/1 If all goes to plan the Assembly
> should reach the committee stage about a week after its first meeting.
> ---
> 1946 _Manchester Guardian_ 21 Aug. 5/1 If all goes to plan these
> elections are to be held next November.
> ---
> 1957 _Chicago Daily Tribune_ 25 Feb. II5/2 The outline is to be filled
> in during the next three years before, if all goes to plan, there must
> be an election.
> ---
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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>



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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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