"not rocket science/not brain surgery"

[Sam Clements]

Thanks, Tom.  I forgot to search for "isn't" rather than "not."

I just now found a 1978 cite from Proquest saying "isn't brain surgery."  It
would seem that "brain surgery" may have been the earlier phrase.

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Dalzell" <slangman at PACBELL.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: "not rocket science/not brain surgery"


> "I think this so-called intelligence factor is being a bit overrated,"
> said Healy.  "let's face it, this isn't brain surgery."
> Washington Post, 27 July 1980, page E1
>
> Tom Dalzell
>
> Sam Clements wrote:
>
>>Nothing helpful in the archives about the origins of these similar
>>phrases, which refer to how simple something is.
>>
>>Usenet only comes up with the phrase(s) from about 1990.
>>
>>Proquest offers a 1981 NYTimes review of books by Thomas Philbin, and an
>>interview with him.  He says, in the interview, "I have more than the
>>usual complement of thumbs.  I think of myself as a writer-editor of this
>>stuff more than an expert craftsman.  But I can fix a screen.  I can fix a
>>light.  This stuff is not brain surgery."
>>
>>Can anyone find an earlier example of "not brain surgery/not rocket
>>science" to mean what it did in that interview?
>>
>>Was there an earlier phrase which defined the same sentiment?
>>
>>Sam Clements
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org