twenty-twenty hindsight

[Garson O'Toole]

Here is a variant in 1947: "their hindsight is notably 20-20."

Cite: 1947, United States Congress, Hearings of 80th Congress, First
Session, House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Committee on
Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Boxcar Shortages, Meeting Held July
18, 1947, Start Page 89, Quote Page 90, Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. (HathiTrust full view)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112104234366
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112104234366?urlappend=%3Bseq=1664

[Begin excerpt]
To answer this I need only to direct your attention to the numerous
inquiries that have been made by both the Congress and the Commission
during the past half century. The evidence is overwhelming that their
hindsight is notably 20-20.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 10:39 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: twenty-twenty hindsight
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The corresponding proverb is included in the just-published Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (Yale University Press):
>
> 1949 Van Nuys [CA] News 17 Feb. (a witticism,
> printed as a filler, attributed to Richard Armour):
> “Most people’s hindsight is 20–20.”
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:30 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: twenty-twenty hindsight
>
> OED has a cite calling this "new" in 1962.
>
> 1952 Norman C. Meier & Harold W. Saunders, eds. _The Polls and Public
> Opinion_ (N.Y.: Holt) 333 [GB Snippet: looks genuine, not verified]:  Gallup
> and Crossley and Roper and others were just not in shape to have that
> *twenty-twenty
> hindsight* beforehand.
>
> 1958 Rep. Henry A. Dixon, in _Salt Lake Tribune_ (Oct. 4) 22 [NewspArch]:
> Twenty-twenty hindsight regarding national security is easy.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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