Cover Your Ass

[Michael Quinion]

The earliest example on newspaperarchive.com is in a article on the
bombing of Hanoi that was widely syndicated on 25 January 1973: "The
same pilot sent an even more poignant letter to Sen. George McGovern,
himself a former bomber pilot. 'I am an Academy graduate that has
become frustrated with and ashamed of the career I have chosen,'
wrote the embittered crewman, 'for I have seen the ideals that I
learned at the Academy become a sham in the working Air Force.
Dignity is more important than integrity, and "cover-your-ass" has
replaced honor.'"  Another piece, from March that year, said: "It was
'corrective action,' I suppose - the kind of technique that was
becoming standard operating procedure in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
Cover your Ass."

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