Antedating of "Outside the Box" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon May 3 21:50:40 UTC 2010

FWIW, I've long made the same association.
JL

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Outside the Box" (UNCLASSIFIED)
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> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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> There is a moderately famous puzzle in which a 3x3 grid of nine dots is
> to be traversed by four connected straight lines (the easiest way to see
> the puzzle is to do a Google Images search for ("nine dots" AND "four
> lines") or see the Wikipedia page for "thinking outside the box").  The
> only way to solve this puzzle is for the lines to extend far past the
> boundaries defined by the 3x3 grid of dots -- they must go "outside the
> box".
>
> I've seen it claimed that this puzzle is the origin of the phrase.
> Pittsburgh magician Paul Gertner has an extended set-piece built around
> this premise.
>
> The puzzle itself is old.  Here are some references to it found by David
> Singmaster, in his " SOURCES IN RECREATIONAL MATHEMATICS AN ANNOTATED
> BIBLIOGRAPHY" This is his 2005 edition, but it is a work in progress
> (found in various editions on the web), and he may have updated it
> since.
>
> Loyd, Sam. In G. G. Bain., The prince of puzzle-makers. An interview
> with Sam Loyd. Strand Magazine 34 (No. 204) (Dec 1907) 771-777.
> Solutions of Sam Loyd's puzzles. Ibid. 35 (No. 205) (Jan 1908) 110.. He
> gives the 3 x 3 lattice in four lines as the Columbus Egg Puzzle.
> [However, the Columbus Egg Puzzle was a mechanical puzzle in which one
> attempted to stand an egg up on one end, made popular at the 1892
> Columbus Exposition].
>
> A. Cyril Pearson. The Twentieth Century Standard Puzzle Book.
> Routledge, London, nd [1907]. Three parts in one volume, separately
> paginated. The parts were also published separately. Each part has
> several numbered sequences of problems.  Part I, no. 36: A charming
> puzzle, pp. 36 & 152-153. 3 x 3 lattice in 4 lines.
>
> Anon. Prob. 67. Hobbies 31 (No. 782) (8 Oct 1910) 39 & (No. 785) (29 Oct
> 1910) 94. 3 x 3 lattice in 4 lines "brought under my notice some time
> back".
>
> C. H. Bullivant. Home Fun, 1910, op. cit. in 5.S. Part VI, Chap. IV. No.
> 3: Joining the rings. 3 x 3 in 4 segments.
>
> Will Goldston. More Tricks and Puzzles without Mechanical Apparatus. The
> Magician Ltd., London, nd [1910?]. (BMC lists Routledge & Dutton eds. of
> 1910.) (There is a 2nd ed., published by Will Goldston, nd [1919].) The
> nine-dot puzzle, pp. 127-128 (pp. 90-91 in 2nd ed.).
>
>
> This cite would lend credence to the puzzle origins of the phrase, I
> think:
>
> Anthony Westell, "Moving Into The Big League of Research Spending,"
> _Lethbridge [Alberta CA] Herald_ 6/2/1970 p 4 col 3
> "The problem, says William David Hopper, is to think "outside the dots"
> about the questions of how to feed a hungry world."
> Later in the same article, col 5
> "Hopper, 43, has been handpicked for the critical job of launching the
> IDRC because he has expertise and stature in the world community of
> foreign aid experts coupled with the independence of spirit needed to
> break loose from the bureaucracy and because he has a good record of
> thinking outside the dots and drawing new patterns."
>
>
>
> Possibly related to the phrase:
> Advertisement [for Birdsboro Corporation] _Barron's National Business
> and Financial Weekly_; Nov 29, 1965; 45, 48; pg. 9 col 3
> [picture of large circle] "Who's thinking outside the circle?  You are .
> . .  and Birdsboro is, too.  You know that conventional thinking will
> not solve today's marketing and manufacturing problems.  And to stay
> with you, your suppliers have to be thinking "outside the circle" of
> conventionality, too.  Here at Birdsboro thinking outside the circle is
> a way of life."
>
>
>
> Bill Mullins
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
> > Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:43 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Antedating of "Outside the Box"
> >
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Antedating of "Outside the Box"
> >
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> > --------
> >
> > The files of the forthcoming Yale Book of Modern Proverbs have this
> > antedating of the phrase "outside the box" (OED 1975):
> >
> > 1971  Michael R. Notaro, Jr., "Management of Personnel:  Organization
> > Patterns and Techniques," Data Management 9, no. 9 (Sep.) 77:  "THINK
> > OUTSIDE THE BOX [section subtitle, capitalization as shown] /  If you
> > have kept your thinking process operating inside the lines and boxes
> > [of organization charts], then you are normal and average, for that is
> > the way your thinking has been programmed."
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
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