Take on board

[Michael Quinion]

Tom Kysilko wrote:

> But my question is:  Just how far out of it am I?  That is, how
> long has this usage been around.

My impression, backed up by the OED's examples, is that this phrase
was originally a bit of British management jargon from the early
1970s or thereabouts. (The OED's first example is from "Management
Today" in 1979.) No doubt Barry Popik will now rebut that assertion
with an example from New York in 1870 ...


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>