CYA

[sagehen]

Bill Mullins writes:
>So, can anyone on this list establish its use back then? <  [1973]
~~~~~~~~~
I don't have documentary evidence, but I can definitely state that the
expression, spoken as "C Y A," not acronymed or explained as "cover your
ass," was used in conversation with me by a civilian employee at
Wright-Patterson Air Base in 1976. It was memorable because the speaker was
a dignified, middle-aged senior bureaucrat, who evidently assumed it would
be understood.
A. Murie