Antedating of "Been There, Done That"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I have previously pushed back the phrase "been there, done that" to 1982.  Here is a 1979 citation from Google News Archive.  It is from an Australian newspaper, reinforcing the apparent Australian provenance of the phrase:

1979 _The Age_ 3 Dec. 11 (Google News Archive)  Mr. Lynch has continued to recover from the 1977 crisis when he was forced to resign over his family financial affairs.  Although he now appears certain to stay past the next election, he has the air of the man who says "I've been there, done that."


Fred Shapiro
Editor
YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)

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