CYA

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sun, Sep 12, 2004 at 02:32:17PM -0500, Mullins, Bill wrote:
>
> One point that has been raised is that one of the memos, from 1973, uses the
> acronym "CYA" (Cover Your Ass).  Whether or not a LtCol in the Air National
> Guard would use this expression as the subject of a memo for record is one
> thing; another is whether the acronym was in use at all at that time.  I've
> known it for years, but not that far back (I was 11 years old then . . .).
> I couldn't find it easily in any databases I have access to.
>
> So, can anyone on this list establish its use back then?  I would be
> surprised if the answer is "no", but I think the question is worth asking.

HDAS has a quote from 1959, with several examples from the early 1970s.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED