get out in front

[Jonathan Lighter]

> I have not looked at any historical information (no GB, no news), but,
> as I said, the phrase is fairly ordinary, at least since the late
> 1980s-early 1990s.

My own recollection does not take it back so far, but I obviously
agree with Victor that, by geezerly standards, it's rather a novelty.

JL

On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 4:04 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      get out in front
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Having watched several episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest (1999-2001), I
> noticed the main character regularly using variations on a phrase
> "[want/try] [to] get/be [out] in front [of it]" , meaning "want to get a
> head start" or, more specifically, "want to have information ready, in
> case there is need for it", i.e., gather evidence in case an
> investigation is needed. This strikes me as a fairly ordinary expression
> with idiomatic meaning. I've tried several different combinations to
> search first the OED, then other dictionaries, but drew blanks.
>
> Here are a couple of fairly ordinary uses in titles:
>
> http://goo.gl/Em1gZ
> Colorado legislators try to get out in front of 'sensational suicide'
> with anti-bullying legislation
>
> http://goo.gl/HoF7Y
> The Obama campaign must get out in front of the coming crises, or else
>
> http://goo.gl/BYY41
> Restaurants Slice Calories From the Menu to Get Out in Front of New Rules
>
>
> The similarities are not accidental, as I only used one search pattern.
>
> I suppose, it is possible that the phrase is derivative from front n. 10.a.
>
>> 10. a. in (the) front of (prep. phr.): at a position before, in
>> advance of, facing, or confronting; at the head of (troops). in his,
>> our, etc. front : in front of or facing him, us, etc.The article is
>> now omitted, exc. in expressions like in the (very) front of (danger
>> etc.) = ‘in the position most exposed to’, ‘bearing the brunt of’.
>
> 10.b., c., d. don't seem to match this sense at all. Other dictionaries
> are even less likely to have full phrases.
>
> I have not looked at any historical information (no GB, no news), but,
> as I said, the phrase is fairly ordinary, at least since the late
> 1980s-early 1990s.
>
> VS-)
>
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