"Got your back"? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

That's actually a different sense in OED, "a. to watch one's back: to be
on one's guard; to be alert to a possible (physical) threat to oneself
(sometimes literally an attack from behind). Freq. in imper. as a
warning or threat.", with a first quotation from 1949. The definition
for "to watch a person's back" is sense (b) of this.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 01:23:41PM -0600, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> _Youngstown [OH] Vindicator_ 8/27/1972 p. A-15 col 1.
> "Devastating sign dogging McGovern's campaign in Chicago:  "McGovern's
> 1,000 per cent behind you.  Watch your back." "
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of
> > Laurence Horn
> > Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 8:51 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: "Got your back"?
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ----------------------
> > -
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "Got your back"?
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
> > -
> >
> > On Dec 29, 2011, at 9:25 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> >
> > > Headline:  "Need to Run Windows on Your Mac? Parallels Has Got Your
> =
> > Back"
> > >=20
> > > I suppose "has got your back" means "takes care of you".  New one to
> =
> > me.
> > >=20
> > > =
> >
> http://chris.pirillo.com/need-to-run-windows-on-your-mac-parallels-has-g
> ot=
> > -your-back/
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > It's not new.  The OED has it from 1975:
> >
> > N. Amer. colloq. (orig. in African-American usage). to get (also have)
> a =
> > person's back : =3D to watch a person's back.
> >
> > 1975    J. De Jongh Hail, hail, Gangs! (Electronic ed.) 6   Two of
> them =
> > and one of you, but I got your back. Kick both of them in the ass.
> > 1985    Washington Post 29 Mar. e5/3   Don't worry, Coach, I've got
> your =
> > back.
> >
> > as a variant of 'to watch a person's back':
> >
> > to watch a person's back : to protect or guard a person against =
> > potential attack (sometimes literally from behind); (also) to support
> or =
> > assist a person.
> >
> > 1974    =91J. le Carr=E9=92 Tinker, Tailor xvii. 145   Clear a foreign
> =
> > letter box, prime a safe house, watch someone's back, spike an
> embassy.
> >
> > LH
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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