out of/outside the box

[Grant Barrett]

On Tuesday, May 23, 2000, jester at PANIX.COM wrote:
>Despite my remembering a long discussion of the phrase _to think
>outside/out of the box_ 'to think creatively' on this list, I can't
>seem to find the messages in my mailbox or on the ADS-L archive.  I
>recall Dave and Ron making ASCII drawings of the dots on which the
>expression is based, so my confusion now is irritating.
>
>Can someone remind me, or supply anew, the earliest few examples
>of this phrase, either from this discussion or another one?

For everyone:

Go to

http://www.americandialect.org/adslarchive.shtml

Search for "outside the box" or "dots and box" both without the quotes. You should
find plenty of what you're after.